Total Command
by Epsilon110
Summary: When quirks appeared, humanity dealt with the greatest power shift it had seen in millennia. The sudden change gave women powers never seen before, but men were left behind. It was an age of heroes. Now 200 years later, the rest of humanity began to catch up... and it all started with a man gifted with Total Command over every function of his body.
1. Life is but a day

He was… unimpressed.

Izuku twirled his mechanical pencil in his hand.

Quirk history class wasn't what he expected, but then again what did he expect from high school history? They were just repeating the same thing he had read, heard about, and had been lectured about for _years._

"The cause of the appearance of quirks is unknown, other than that it started 200 years ago…"

His green eyes glazed over as the teacher regurgitated the same stuff that society had been talking about for over a century.

His interest in the subject- quirks and the emergence of heroes- was the only thing that kept him going. But hearing the same info so many times made him slightly cynical about the start of the era. As amazing as it would have been during the time when quirks were rare, nowadays, Quirk-Bearers formed 80% of the population. They were common, so made the whole topic desperately mundane. The cause of it all no longer mattered to him.

Quirks themselves, on the other hand... _those _were still interesting. His eyes drifted to the explosion of blonde hair in front of him. His childhood friend... or was she an ex-childhood friend at this point? His pencil stopped twirling as abruptly as his thoughts.

An idea.

He flipped open his journal, 'Heroics for the Future; Concepts #5', and found an empty page before starting to draw her out. Sharp chin, lean but heavily muscular body, he knew how strong she was under that baggy school uniform from experience. He rubbed a sore spot in his ribs. The gentle curves of femininity, nothing extravagant…

He chuckled to himself.

_She's almost... aerodynamic._

His mind stopped drifting as he looked down on the writing and small sketches in front of hi-

"Midoriya!" His attention shot back to his teacher, who was looking down at him with slight annoyance. She huffed. "I know you probably know all this stuff already, but could you at least not mutter?" He looked sheepishly around.

_Not again..._

Katsumi had leaned back in her chair and was glaring at him, the livid glint in her crimson eyes shining brightly, the one that hadn't left her eyes since what- they were 4? He could barely remember her _not _looking at him with such malice. Honestly, he missed when she didn't look at him like that.

She looked prettier without it.

Shaking his head, he apologized profusely, still blushing madly at the small thought that floated through his stream of consciousness. The attention of the class gradually moved back to the teacher, although some girls were still casting him weird looks. They were something between being impressed and creeped out. Then again, those were the looks he- well, men got.

Ever since quirks became a thing, a pattern became apparent. As rapidly the number of quirk bearers increased in women, the number of men dropped with them, and now they only made up 20% of the total population. Seeing one nowadays had a kind of 'novelty' to it, and creeped some people out. But honestly, he couldn't blame them.

With the rare exception of full families, most families were now just a single mother getting impregnated by donated sperm. His own mom was in the same situation and he doubted any of his classmates had ever even seen their dad, let alone been in the same room with a man other than himself.

He began twirling his pencil again.

It was automatic, no conscious effort was given to it, but he found that it suppressed his muttering. Maybe it kept his subconscious busy enough so his mouth remained shut. He took a quick break to jot down the note in his journal as quickly as possible before beginning to twirl it again.

Maybe this was his quirk? Overactive subconscious?

He smiled a sad smile. _Yeah right..._

_Men don't have quirks._

* * *

The bell rang, derailing his train of thought. The class was over and so was the day. The teacher bid farewell and left the classroom. He took a deep breath… and was quickly covered in smoke and ash as his desk sprouted a miniature mushroom cloud.

"Dekuuuu…." Katsumi seethed. She was mad at him. Again.

"Y-yes, Kacchan?" He grimaced. Why did he keep letting that nickname fly through his lips? Katsumi's eyes shined even brighter with anger.

"What the fuck were you murmuring about back here?" Her tone was calmer than what he had expected and what was used to. If her hand wasn't sizzling on his desk with enough heat to leave a mark and her eyes didn't have that glow, he might have thought she was actually relatively calm.

But damn did she look terrifying. "N-nothing!"

_Smooth, real smooth, Deku, h _e chided himself as Katsumi lifted up her hand and took his journal "H-hey, give i-"

She cut him off. "Oh really? 'Cause I could have sworn that you were writing something down on this." She started flipping through pages and pages of concepts, of how pro heroes could use their powers, possible support gear for them and even some for her classmates and- "Oh there it is..." she flipped to the most recent page. The one about her. An analysis of her quirk along with support gear, with a picture of her for reference. "I still can't believe you are making these. Especially when they are not going to work for a _man _like you." She looked up to see his reaction.

She paled when she saw the raw determination in his eyes. _Dammit. It's still there._

"I'll find a use for them."

His stutter was gone.

"When I become a hero."

Some of the remaining classmates tried hiding their giggles, some outright laughed at him.

Katsumi only wordlessly stared at him for a good couple of seconds.

Then his journal in her hands exploded.

_Fuck, not again…_

She let the remains of the journal drop back to his desk.

"You. Are. Never. Going. To. Become. A. Hero."

He looked down on the sad remains of his journal and felt someone pat his head; the hand brushed through his curly hair and landed on his shoulder. The delicate gesture would be appreciated if the hand didn't start to sizzle against his shoulder painfully. He hoped that the heat would disappear, and only began to breathe again once it started to dissipate.

"So be a good boy," he looked up to catch Katsumi smiling down at him.

His breath hitched.

"And give up."

Katsumi started walking away from him after that.

"And stop drawing me you creep!" she huffed and exited the classroom, hand still smoking.

No one noticed Izuku's increased heart rate, and no one truly knew why he had a full body blush.

* * *

_He can still look at me like that... _She hissed in aggravation, clutching the page she stole from his notebook, the page with his newest sketch of her.

_Goddammit…_

* * *

He kicked a pebble across the road, trying his best to ignore the looks he got from children during his trek back home. Sighing, he took a turn leading to a more isolated route.

He didn't want to see the wonder in the little girls' eyes right now, it hurt to see them. Lost in thought, he didn't notice the manhole cover shudder as he walked over it.

He didn't have time to react when it flew off and his whole world suddenly turned a sickly neon green.

"Phahaha!" his captor bellowed as her slimy body wrapped around him in a dangerously affectionate hug. "Such a nice catch~" She giggled as he grasped at her, trying to force her off of him, only for his hands to flow through her harmlessly. "I would love to tease you more but I have someone to hide from..." Izuku felt his mouth get forced open, and her body start to slither in. "So let me borrow your body."

She tasted like lime against his throat.

_So this is it, huh?_

_This is how I die?_

He closed his eyes, the pain of her forcing her way through his throat making his eyes water…

Wait- she felt like water!

And she was in his throa-

"C'mon, stop struggling, it'll only hurt for a mome-" She suddenly felt his throat tighten immensely around her tendril, enough to shear the tip off ...

_What the hell?_

Izuku heaved as the tendril bubbled back out and he managed to cough out the rest, taking deep erratic breaths. His whole throat was burning and aching, but she was out, for now. He forced his legs to move under her slimy grasp until his muscles finally budged and started to move. It felt was like he was walking through cement, but he only needed to move a couple more meters.

_Gotta get somewhere public, then she'll be forced to run away._

"My, my~ You _are _a feisty one, aren't you?" He could hear her mockingly compassionate tone against his neck. "Too bad you're gonna die..." He could feel her pushing against his lips again, trying to get back in. He couldn't pull what he did last time again, his throat was already too tired. So if she got in, it would be the end.

"DO NOT FEAR!" His eyes snapped open as his whole body twisted with shock to look at the manhole.

"FOR I AM HERE!"

Before he knew what was happening, the slime villain was blown off him. He felt his insides rattle from a shockwave.

_She did that with just the air pressure of her punch!?_

His internal gyroscope won over the imbalance caused by the punch and he managed to land on his feet, skidding to a halt. He slowly looked up and saw her, standing proud with her signature grin.

His idol, the number one hero.

"A-All Might?" he squeaked out before promptly falling on his ass unconscious.

* * *

He woke up to a calloused, but slender hand slapping him softly and repeatedly. "Young one? Young one are you ok?" His eyes snapped open and saw All Might looking down on him, her golden hair flowing free with two bangs in that signature gravity-defying V-shape.

_She is gorgeous up close- Wait, up close?!_

With an undignified yelp, he scooted back away from the hero with a blush on his face. "A-Aall Might?! You saved me?" He tore his eyes away from the larger-than-life stature of All Might: tall and muscular. He looked around trying to find his bag as his inner fanboy kicked in.

"C-can I ha-" He saw her holding up the backpack he was looking for. She tossed it to him with her usual gallant smile and he was awestruck to find his notebook inside... "You already signed it? Thank you!" He began to bow rapidly. She nodded in response and patted the bottles in her pocket, where he could see green slime flowing within them. She had caught the villain.

"Take it as an apology for letting her-" her smile faltered only an increment, Izuku barely managed to catch it- "get to you."

Izuku bowed down once more "I-it's really no problem, ma'am. Y-you don't need to apologize."

She looked him over and saw the redness on his throat "If that mark-" she pointed at his throat, causing him to reach up and touch it reflexively and wince a little as he felt his throat ache again- "got on you. That's on me, so…"

"Midoriya," Izuku answered the unspoken question.

"So, I am sorry, Young Midoriya." The number one hero felt her time limit make itself known in the back of her head. "But with that I must take my leave, more people to save!" She crouched down and got ready to jump.

Suddenly, Izuku's body reared back to life "Wait, All Migh-" Seeing her start to unleash the potential energy in her legs to jump, he reacted.

And grabbed onto her leg.

* * *

All Might felt... off, even more than she usually did as her body broke down on her. It felt like one of her legs was heavier… But that didn't make sen-

She looked down.

"Midoriya?! What are you doing! Let go!" He looked back at her with watery eyes and flappy lips as they soared through the air. "Oh... right..."

* * *

After a graceful landing on an abandoned rooftop, All Might looked back at her unexpected passenger. "Look kid, I'm worried about you, but don't overstep it." She turned her back and started to prep up for another jump. Izuku managed to shake off his near-death experience and blurted his question out, looking down.

"Can a man be a hero?"

All Might halted and then felt her limit break. Steam started billowing from her frame as she shrank. Her muscular form ebbed away, and her skin tightened around her skeleton as her muscles deflated.

"Can a man save people with a fearless smile on their face, like you? It's just... even before I could speak, I wanted to be a hero, to save people just like y-" He looked up and saw a skeletal impostor where his hero used to be. "-ouuuuuuuuuuuu..." His mouth slammed shut.

"Imposto-" He raised an accusatory finger only to be silenced by said impostor raising her hand up.

"It's me, Midoriya-" She was interrupted by blood spewing from her mouth.

"I am All Might."

"A shapeshifting villain? No, then why would she save me… A shapeshifting hero? Why would she fake being All Might? Then all the credit would go to her-"

"Midoriya-"

"A shapeshifting vigilante? That's possib-"

"MIDORIYA!"

Izuku found himself standing salute. "Yes, All Might!" he yelled before he caught himself. _That person isn't All Might, she couldn't b-_

"Look, kid, It's me, and since you have seen this much..." Her sunken blue eyes pierced his green ones as she pulled up her shirt. He immediately covered them and started blushing. "Not that you- Just look over here!" He peeked through his fingers to see a savage scar on her side. "The smile is hollow," she stated, "much like the facade I need to keep after I got this wound five years ago."

He shuddered looking at the scar. _If it's half as deep as it was wide, then how is she even aliv-_

"Wait, five years ago? Was it in the battle with Toxic Chainsaw?"

All Might lost her serious look and chuckled slightly. "I don't know if I should be creeped out or impressed that you know enough about me to even guess that." The smile melted away. "But no. It was from an undisclosed attack."

Izuku's knees started to feel weak as she continued her speech. "The Symbol of Peace should never bow to evil, so this information stays between us." She let her shirt down, covering her wound again. "And, kid, I am sorry but... You can't be a hero."

Izuku had a hard time breathing as All Might went on. "You've seen what happened to-" She sighed. "Even me." He could tell she didn't want to add that. "I can't condone someone quirkless going after villains and endangering themselves."

She rose to her feet and patted his shoulder before turning and walking away. "But don't worry Midoriya, there are many other ways to become someone's hero. Firefighting, police work, charity…" She sighed again. "I'm sure you will find a way, but don't obscure the facts… For your own safety."

Izuku managed to whimper out an 'I see…' as she opened the roof access and left.

He desperately grasped at his collar, trying to unbutton it and allow air into his empty lungs.

_I see..._

* * *

"What the _fuck _are you doing?" Katsumi snarled, glaring at one of her lackeys and grabbing the cigarette out of her elongated fingers before proceeding to stomp on it.

"Hey, c-calm down, Kaccha- " she yelped as an explosion went off in the ash blonde's hands.

"_ You don't get to call me that... _"

"Oooooo~" the explosive teen turned around to see the source of the sound and got a mouthful of slime for her effort.

"Quite the quirk you got there, Camouflage~" Katsumi felt her body being invaded by the slime.

Her cowardly lackeys already running away.

Her hands started to go off with explosions against her will in panic.

* * *

It was a blur for her; battling with her own body to stay conscious took its toll, so she didn't even notice the time passing. In the blink of an eye, the alleyway she was in was covered in flames and the entrance was surrounded by heroes. Yet none took a step forward to actually come and help her.

_Why... _She was feeling herself fade. _Why is no one helping me?_

She could imagine why.

Karma.

She couldn't help but think of the greenish-black mop of hair that she had been friends with way back when-

"Kacchan!"

_God, I really am dying if I'm already hearing voices _\- She saw the familiar black mop dashing towards her.

_De-Deku!?_

* * *

Izuku had managed to break through the wall of civilians and heroes and was running towards her at speeds she couldn't even imagine him reaching.

_No! Go away!_

_You'll get hurt..._

"You lost your chance boy~" the villain mocked him as she lashed out with a tendril.

The next few seconds were replayed in the news for a week straight.

Izuku, now seemingly powered by a goddamn god, did a combat flip under the tendril, not even slowing down a little as his hand grabbed onto a decently-sized rock which he pitched hard at the villain as he got back up.

There was a soft 'What the fuck?' from one of the heroes as the stone flew from his hand and stuck true in the eye of the villain.

As the villain screeched in pain, the tendrils lost their grip on Katsumi, allowing her to get a well-needed gulp of air. But before she could ask what the fucking hell _he _was doing here, he was in front of her. Red boots ground against the asphalt as Izuku pivoted his body and speared the mass of slime with his arm, grabbing hold of her waist.

Katsumi hadn't felt him initiate contact in ages, but as his hand wrapped around her tightly, she felt…

Safe.

Throwing his other leg to the side, the green-eyed hero wannabe twisted his whole body fluidly and managed to pull Katsumi out of the villain's grasp.

"BLOW HER THE FUCK UP!" he screamed as he pulled her to an embrace, his body between the villain and her defensively. Katsumi complied and rose her arms up to the 'face' of her tormentor, taking some pleasure in the outright horror that was found in the villain's one good eye.

And let loose an explosion.

The whole street shook.


	2. From Ashes A Fire Shall Be Woken

Katsumi's arms dropped down over Izuku's back.

It must have looked intimate to everyone around her. But she didn't care.

"WHY!?" Her eyes almost betrayed her tone. "WHY DID YOU COME?! I DIDN'T NEED YOUR HELP!"

He flinched but didn't pull back. "I couldn't just let you die Kacchan..." he breathed out "I couldn't-"

"GET OFF ME!" She cut him off and he complied.

As the intimate moment was broken, the rest of the world came rushing back. The crowd was cheering at the scene while the heroes were walking towards them. Apparently, the shockwave of the explosion was violent enough to blow the fires out.

Izuku wasn't sure if he was having the best or the worst day of his life; his idol had rejected him, yet here he was getting cheered on by a crow-

"_ YOU! _" came a sickly-sweet screech from the side. _How was she still one piece?_

The slime bubbled and reformed, towering above both Katsumi and him. He knew she was out of juice and he didn't like his chances. Regardless, his slouch disappeared as he took a defensive stance.

"HAVE NO FEAR, FOR _I _AM HERE!" The bellow was like a song to his ears as, in the next moment, the slime was punched sky high, splattering into a million droplets and finally defeated.

Katsumi almost fell down from the sheer wind pressure from the force of his punch, as were some of the other pro's. The crowd cheered yet again as All Might's muscular form came into their view. Her eyes locked onto Izuku's, icy blues stuck somewhere between apologetic and thankful.

* * *

The following moments were a blur; one second, he was standing with Katsumi, the next he was getting both praised and scolded by Kamui Woods while Katsumi was getting praised for her powerful quirk. Then, he was on his way back home.

"DEKU!" His mind whirred back to life as he spun around and came face to face with Katsumi. "I _won't _thank you..." she growled, yet her eyes were missing the usual glint of rage- at least he thought it was rage- that they normally had. "I didn't _need _your help, alright? Next time you pull something like this, I'll put you down myself." She huffed and started walking back towards her own home.

He smiled softly. _she said 'next time'... she knows I would do this again in a heartbeat._

He turned back to walk home, but was suddenly cut off by the massive figure of All Might appearing in his path.

"I AM HERE!"

"GAH!" He couldn't help the yelp escaping his lips. "A-All Might? Weren't you with the reporters?" He looked up at her muscular form posturing proudly before him.

"_ HAHAHA, _getting away from them was easy, for I am A-" She suddenly coughed and her posture broke down, her muscles rapidly losing their girth and her skin tightening around her skeleton. "-ll Might.." she breathed out.

"Did you continue through your transfor-" He was cut off again. He was used to it, but today was breaking records.

"Young Midoriya," she said simply, her tone having enough seriousness to shut him up. "I have to apologize yet again." He was stunned at the amount of regret in her voice. "For not reacting to your friend's time of need as I should have... and for what I said on the roof..."

His breath caught in his throat.

* * *

"Moooooom, could I be a hero?" he asked his mother, big eyes glowing with hope and childhood innocence.

Inko didn't know what to say to her 4-year-old son; he didn't know that he wouldn't get powers, no one had told him or Katsumi yet. "Can I be a hero like All Might?" Tears started to stream through her eyes at the pure _hope _he had in his voice.

She couldn't respond. She didn't have the heart to crush his dreams. He dropped the subject that day.

A month later was much, _much _worse.

Her son was crying. "Kacchan said only girls could be heroes- she's wrong r-right, Mom?" Tears started streaming from her eyes too. _Just say yes- he needed to hear a yes._

"I-I'm sorry Izuku!" Her voice broke as she bent down to hug him. "I- I'm so sorry..."

* * *

_Mom, no, that's not it..._

_That's not what you should have said, it was-_

* * *

"You _can _be a hero!"

Izuku's knees buckled as he dropped to the ground, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing. He grabbed his mouth before his whimpers could escape through his trembling lips.

"Today, you saved your friend. You, a man, took it upon yourself to dash in to save her, no matter if it lead to certain doom." She breathed out, looking down on the prone form of the young man. "I would ask 'what were you thinking' but I know."

She smiled.

"You weren't, were you?"

He hiccupped and looked up to her, tears still streaming profusely through his eyes.

"All true heroes have the same anecdote," she raised her hand with finger pointed up, "'My body moved before I knew it.' That's what happened to you, wasn't it?"

He couldn't even nod properly as his sobs became more powerful.

"Your actions, even if some would think as reckless-" she laughed "-maybe even suicidal, saved your friend. Which inspired me to swing into action. You reminded me what being a true hero _really _means."

He gave up holding back his sobs and wailed softly.

"And for that, I must thank you, young man!" Her smile was wider than it should have been on her gaunt face "You were a true hero today."

His head hit the pavement as relief flooded his system, those words, the words that he wanted to hear for so long.

"Now chin up!" She wasn't going to lie, he was almost choking her up too. "The next Symbol of Peace shouldn't be crying in the streets!"

"Wh- what?" he choked out between sobs, looking back at her sunken eyes in confusion.

"I choose you-" his heart was beating out of his chest "-to be my successor." His eyes widened as more tears fell.

She held out her hand towards him. "My quirk is yours to inherit!"

His sobs started to die out. "H-huh is- is that even possible?"

All Might chuckled. "Don't believe your ears? Kid, a man was a hero today, is anything impossible?"

* * *

He hugged his teary-eyed mother. "I was so worried when I saw you run into that!" she wailed as he patted her back.

"Don't worry Mom, it turned out fine didn't it?"

She sniffled and looked at him. "And what if it didn't huh?" she snapped, her eyes quickly shifted into a deeply apologetic one. "S-sorry, Izuku I-" he pulled her into a hug.

"I know Mom, you were worried, but I'm fine, and will be for a long time." she looked back up to him again. Her pale green onto his emerald.

For the first time in 14 years and 2 months, his eyes looked complete again. The fire he had as a kid was back. The embers of his hope were relit. The green inferno that was his determination raged inside him again.

"I- I don't like to ask you this, but could you get used to this?" he mumbled. Her eyes were drying out in confusion. "When I become a hero, I'll always be in trouble like that."

Her eyes teared up again. She had grown used to hearing him say that, but there was always that small imperfection, his broken spirit only she could detect.

That wound on his soul was gone.

The underlying crack she had given him so long ago was healed over, his pure determination was back. And she couldn't be happier.

"I-I'll try my best," she sobbed out.

* * *

That next morning he felt better, better than he remembered ever feeling. Anxiety bubbled up as he ruffled his hair, trying to ignore the tightness of his sleepwear. _Probably just nerves..._

He opened the door to their bathroom, looking into the mirror and expecting to see the same short, lanky teen with iridescent green hair and freckles as he had for the previous 18 years.

But that wasn't what was staring back at him in the mirror. His body was different. Nothing too major, but his shoulders were now farther apart, which was enough for the t-shirt he wore to be uncomfortable, and he was tall enough for it to ride up ever so slightly, revealing some of his stomach.

"I- wha?"

"Izuku, hurry up breakfast is read-" His mom came to the doorway to call him for something to eat before he went out.

"I-Izuku?" her voice trembled, looking up at him. She had been shorter than him for a while now; usually his neck was level with her eyes, but now his shoulders were.

"Mom, is it me, or am I- taller?" he asked, dumbfounded.

She nodded dumbly.

Both of them walked to breakfast without saying anything else.

* * *

All Might huffed. Izuku was running two minutes late. After the waterworks the day before, she was sure he would be here before she even woke up.

"S-sorry I'm late," came a deep voice; deeper than she remembered. She looked up to the owner of the voice expecting Izuku.

She wasn't expecting him to be so much _different _than last afternoon.

"Did- did you have a growth spurt or something, Young Midoriya?" she asked, her mouth feeling like it was trying to open and stay that way.

"It looks like it?" he said back dumbly. He sounded more perplexed than she was. "I had trouble finding a sweatshirt..." He tugged at its shoulders, clearly a little uncomfortable in the garment. All Might couldn't blame him, the shoulders looked a little too tight on his frame. "Sorry for being late," he repeated.

"It's fine..." She said as she shook her head a bit. _C'mon Toshiko, a kid growing up isn't that surprising!_

Her stupor now shaken off, she looked him over. _Huh he doesn't need to look up to me that much now..._

"Midoriya, look around you and tell me what you see," she said, ignoring the changes for now.

That seemed to shake him out of his own stupor. "A scrapyard from the looks of it- but that doesn't make sense, the map and the sign said this was supposed to a be public beach- does that mean there is illegal dumping going o-"

Okay, he was still the mumbling boy she had met yesterday. "Young Midoriya," she said simply, which brought him back to reality.

"Oh- sorry, mumbling again." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"No, it's fine, you are right. There is illegal dumping going on here and as your second act as a hero, you are gonna clean this place up."

She was expecting him to be surprised, not the resolute and immediate nod he gave in confirmation.

"When can I start?"

She couldn't help the smile that formed on her face

* * *

He huffed and fell down, the ropes he was trying to tug falling onto the sand next to him with a resounding smack. He panted as he tried to regain his breath.

"Giving up already?" All Might asked in her hero form, from her perch on top of the fridge he was pulling. He had only managed to drag it for a couple of steps. He looked up to her, body ragged; but eyes determined, as he started to get back up

"Wouldn't dream of it!"

She took a few pictures with her phone as he rose to his feet.

"That's the spirit!"

* * *

Inko looked worriedly at her son.

"Izuku, hun, you ok?"

He swallowed his latest bite and panted softly. He had been eating faster than he ever did before. "Yeah mom- is there any more? I am feeling very hungry today- OH!" Remembering what All Might gave him, he got up from his seat and grabbed his backpack, shuffling around and placing his hero analysis notebooks to the side. He found what he was looking for and passed it to her. "I found an exercise regiment online and started following it! It had a meal plan too, could we follow this after today?"

She looked down on the schedule.

_Aim to Pass!: American Dream Plan?_

* * *

"Izuku are you sure about this?" His guidance counselor looked at him wearily- _when did he get so tall? _"I know your grades are good, and UA accepts males into the hero test, but it's going to be dangerous. And even then I don't think you can pass the practical when-" she stopped herself.

_When you're a man._

He simply nodded. "It's what I always dreamed of doing. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try."

Something in his voice struck something inside her and, against her better judgment, she nodded and added UA to his applications.

* * *

He knew he was the focal point of the class at times, what with being the only guy at school, but that was starting to change. The mean girls that used to point at him and whisper stuff at each other had stopped laughing; he was starting to see people stare at him and blush slightly.

_What is going on?_

He failed to notice that it could have been because his now uncomfortably tight uniform was showing off his rapidly growing muscles.

Katsumi was one of the many that were sneaking glances at him when he ducked down to take notes.

_Since when the hell did he start looking like that? _She huffed. It was becoming harder for her to hide her blushes in class.

* * *

"Ok kid, I gave you leeway the first two days but," All Might looked at Izuku. They were now eye-to-eye in her true form. "Are you taking steroids or something?"

Izuku was flustered, to say the least. "N-no I would never- I don't-" he looked down, "I have no idea what's going on- I uh..." he started twiddling his fingers, "I am kinda overeating though; sorry, but the portions you gave me weren't enough."

She huffed in thought. "That's to be expected, that plan wasn't designed with your sudden growth in mind." She looked at the beach. They were way ahead of schedule: he had cleaned up a week's worth of garbage in 2 days. "Hrmmm... this really doesn't feel natural." She looked at Izuku, he had to remove his shirt; it was too constricting to work out in.

"Ugh- this is gonna drive me insane!" She gulped. "But she might kill me if I..." All Might was wracking her brain trying to decide.

"Who?" asked Izuku meekly; his tone and mannerisms didn't really fit his new body.

"Recovery Girl," All Might stated, apparently coming to a decision. "Young Midoriya, training is over for today. I want you to come with me to meet a friend."

* * *

All Might rubbed her forehead; she knew he was a hero-fanboy but this was pushing it. Izuku hadn't stopped mumbling and flipping through his notebook since she dropped Recovery Girls name and got into her truck. Although, she had to admit his sketches of the heroes were spot on.

She saw his wonder-filled eyes.

_Maybe I should sign under my pages and sketches sometime?_

Just that thought alone made her smile softly, the headache that was building slowly ebbing away.

_Kid sure knows how to get under someone's skin I guess..._

* * *

All Might couldn't help but laugh at the awestruck expression plastered on Izuku's face when they finally arrived at UA. Her skeletal shoulders shaking as a hearty laugh escaped her body; it had been a while since she laughed like that.

It felt good.

He quickly started blushing when he heard her laugh but a maternal pat on the back made him stop. "Don't worry, Young Midoriya, I had the same expression my first time too."

He nodded with a small smile on his face and walked in, examining the lanyard hanging from his neck that she had given him.

They needed to take the long way around to the infirmary. It was after hours so there weren't any students to worry about, but the moment All Might heard a sadistic and sultry voice, she grabbed Izuku by the arm and pulled him away with, some fear in her eyes for whatever the reason.

* * *

When they arrived at the infirmary and knocked on the door, Izuku was greeted by the small form of Recovery Girl. He immediately started shaking with excitement and All Might knew he was about to gush, so she pushed him into the infirmary and shut the door behind them.

"Toshi- what the hell am I looking at?" came the gruff and old voice from the 'Youthful Heroine'.

"Oh- uh..." Toshiko Yagi muttered, all the while Izuku was blustering about Recovery Girl and how awesome she was in some past events; some of which he wasn't even alive for; they weren't even more than footnotes on the newspapers when it had happened.

"His name is Izuku Midoriya and I chose him to be my successor." Recovery Girl's eyebrow rose, but a smile was slowly growing on her face. Izuku was reminding her of some good memories while he was listing off her achievements.

"Can you even pass it onto a man?" she asked while looking him up and down. "I mean his physique is getting there, he needs I'd say... 7 more months before his body could handle the bare minimum?"

All Might got out of her stupor. "You see that's why I'm here..." She fished out her phone and showed her Izuku's picture from Saturday. "That was him 2 days ago."

Recovery Girl looked at the picture and then at the still blustering Izuku, who was trying to find her page in his notebook. "Young lady, it's not funny to make fun of someone my age that's-" She looked between the real thing and the picture again- "that's too much progress in just 2 days. Even with supplements and steroids, he couldn't reach that in that little time."

"So," Toshiko pulled the phone down and showed her the timestamp of the picture, "you see why I brought him here?"

Recovery Girl was somewhere between shocked, impressed and intrigued.

* * *

"WAIT, I HAVE A QUIRK?!" Izuku yelled, earning a knock on the head from Recovery Girl's cane.

"Young man, I understand how excited you are but please don't yell." Her voice was level, but All Might's fearful eyes gave Izuku a feeling that the nurse was to be respected.

Flipping through some pages of the many tests she did, she pulled out an MRI scan of his head and his blood results. "You see how active this part is?" She pointed at his pituitary gland. It was bright red.

He nodded. "Yeah?"

"That level of activity is only present in newborns; your's is even slightly higher than them."

"Huh..."

"And your blood work shows extreme amounts of HGH; the hormone that regulates growth and metabolism."

"E-eh?"

"And your bone density seems to be higher than anything recorded that wasn't quirk-related. All of this originated roughly 2 days ago."

All Might's jaw dropped.

"Your body seems to have reacted to your desire to become stronger, if what All Might told me about you is true," she huffed.

"I know this is unprecedented, but you might actually have a quirk. And if these tests are correct-" they had to be; she did them more than 5 times each- "your brain has the ability to fully control its hormonal system- maybe even more."

Izuku looked like a fish out of water as he babbled dumbly.

"I can't be certain if this is limited to subconscious decisions or all thoughts, or if this even _is _a quirk." She looked back at the tests, almost not believing them herself. "As you don't have the second X chromosome to 'activate' your alpha plus genes, none of the tests we normally would do work on you. You are on your own to figure out if this is an actual quirk or just something entirely different."

She looked back up to him, surprised to see him looking teary-eyed down on his hands.

"M-my own quirk?"

Both she and All Might broke out in smiles.

* * *

In the days after that, a lot changed.

Izuku learned that he, in fact, _could _control most, if not all, of his bodily functions at will. His sudden burst in height stalled and his musculature started to condense at rates only seen when All Might dropped out of her hero form. The minimal baby fat on him melted away, his now denser musculature showing through fully. He stopped crashing during training as his body's stamina increasing tenfold. All Might couldn't really place how he was gaining that much in so little time, both in terms of his physical training and control of his quirk.

"Simple," he said shyly, yet proudly. "After hearing what Recovery Girl told me, I started to notice the small things that just _happened _when I needed them to." He rubbed his now healed throat. "Like the time when I forced that villain out of my throat, that was me taking control of my throat muscles and working them the other way around."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Turns out, I always had subconscious control of my whole body, so turning it conscious was easy." He poked his chest. "For the stamina increase, I forced my body to produce more hemoglobin. I heard that in the past, athletes ran on mountains to force their bodies into producing more so they could carry more oxygen throughout the body."

All Might just looked dumbly at him. In the past few days he had gained significant control over his quirk, where most people would have needed a month to even activate it properly.

"Plus it can regulate my heartbeat, so when I think about it, my heart shifts to its optimum rate instantly." He rubbed the back of his neck "I-it's easier than I thought, kinda feels like I'm cheating-"

"Excuse me, but holy shit, Young Midoriya!" All Might yelled bluntly.

_His optimal heartbeat? His body knows when it's at full efficiency?_

"U- uh sorry! I should stop using my quirk right? Makes this training too easy to be wor-" He cut his sentence off as he saw All Might swiftly shaking her head.

"No, if anything, you need to use it _more _. Young Midoriya, get your practice in: everyone else has used their quirks for around 14 years more than you have. This is your time to catch up."

He nodded and went back to work.

He had cleaned one eighth the beach in a week and was now lifting fridges he barely could drag a week ago over his head with ease.

_I feel like I've created a monster._


	3. All your tomorrows start here

_What. The. Actual. Fuck._

Katsumi fumed. And blushed. After 17 years of being a lanky, scrawny boy, in two weeks _he_ had changed- and goddamn Deku was now looking like a Greek go-

She shook her head and slapped her cheeks. _No- its just his growth spurt nothing unnatural- doesn't matter that he suddenly had a strong jawli-_

"GODDAMMIT!" she barked- forgetting that she was in class.

"Katsumi? Are you ok?" asked her teacher, actual worry on her eyes. _Ugh I hate that look_

"Nothing- it's nothing, sorry," she huffed and sat back down.

Stupid sexy Deku.

WAIT WHA-

* * *

"_ YOU! _"

Izuku dropped the fridge he was hauling in panic and looked at the source of the sound, A woman with pink hair- she started dashing towards him and he almost lost his nerve and ran away instead he just hunched and looked around meekly

"So you are the one stealing from my salvage," she hissed when he was in earshot and glared up at him. He could see her full figure now, her legs covered by a grey baggy jumpsuit which she had opted to wear around her torso and opened, tying its arms around her waist to keep it in place, her copious chest covered by a black tank top. His eyes caught hers, amber pits staring back at his emerald, on closer inspection he could see that they were crosshairs that were focusing to his own

"I- uh- I didn't know this place was taken?" he mumbled, his voice not matching his body.

"Wait a minute," she scanned him up and down "oh my god- you are a guy?"

He looked at her dumbly for a second "Yes?"

"anD YOU WERE LIFTING A FRIDGE WITH _ONE HAND _?!" she screamed, then proceeded to start feeling him up.

"Wha- " he blustered, blood rushing to his face as her hands started to fondle his upper body.

"You feel so much harder than expected- this is giving me so many ideas~"

Having had enough of this he grabbed her hands and stilled her "Wha-what are you doing?"

"Oh sorry- didn't introduce myself. Hatsume Mei, inventor extraordinaire!" He sweatdropped.

"And this explains, what exactly?"

She didn't hesitate in her answer, "My profession." His eyebrow twitched.

"But that's not what I asked." She looked lost. The feeling was mutual.

"Then what did you ask?"

"I asked why you were feeling me up?" The gears finally clicked for her.

"Ohhhhhhh- that." she pulled her hands away, well tried to, and Izuku let her hands go after she struggled for a second "It's not everyday you see someone lifting a fridge without a strength quirk, since you are a man." the dots connected for him too.

"So you were curious on how it was possible for a human body to lift that much without any enhancements?"

"YEAH THAT'S IT!" She whooped, it had been a while since someone kept up with her, let alone finish her arguments for her.

It felt nice.

"So I explained myself, it's your turn." Mei said, sitting on the fridge that had toppled over when Izuku dropped it.

"Oh- didn't I- guess not" He mumbled then sat down on the sand, "I was cleaning the beach as training for when I apply to U.A." now _that _got her full attention.

"U.A.? You applying to general studies there?" She asked almost jumping up and down, maybe she could use him as a mannequin, now that would bring some attention to her products.

"Nah, the hero program." Her mouth fell open.

He stared back with a somewhat hurt expression, but even with the limited interaction he had with her, he could tell that she wasn't doing that to insult him. "You are telling me that you, a man, are gonna apply to the hero course?"

He nodded.

"That's it, we are teaming up."

Now that, that wasn't the reaction he was expecting.

"Wh- you are planning on going to UA too?" He muttered, eyes wide.

"Yeah, support course, and you my kind sir-" She poked his chest, "are gonna hog the spotlight if you get in." he nodded dumbly.

"Yeah I- I suppose it would be unprecedented, I might make the news again." she ignored the 'again'.

"And when you do, if you use my gear, I will be in the spotlight too!"

"So are you telling me-" he pointed to himself than at her.

"You got yourself an inventor!" She gave a thumbs up.

"You don't even know my name" He deadpanned.

"Does it _really_ matter?"

* * *

"What do you mean 'I can't clean up as fast' Midoriya?" All Might asked looking to her successor, who was sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"I- kinda got a friend? And she needs the materials there- I can't just dump it all in the truck." Her eyes squinted down at the boy.

"

It's no time to be fooling around young Midoriya, that can wait till U.A." He got flustered at that.

"No, no, _God _no- that's not why it-"

He huffed calming himself down "She is an inventor, says she wants to get into the support course in there and she was using the materials at the beach to create stuff, I can't just take that away when the tests are so soon- that's not heroic at all!" All Might huffed, there was some merit to that. "Plus, she can't really build out here so I will be carrying stuff to her workshop, that should be a good enough substitute… right?" All might nodded against her better judgment.

"I still want that beach cleared."

* * *

"Izuku..." His mother's words brought him out of another session of deep thought.

"Yeah, mom?" He asked looking at his distressed mother.

"Honey are you- are you taking something?" She asked with horror in her voice. The accusation shocked Izuku enough to knock the breath out of him, "I- it's just you have been eating so much more, are constantly zoning out, and in the past few weeks grew at an unnecessarily rapid rate... are you like taking some steroids?"

He started chuckling, _so that's where I got my muttering, _"No- no mom it's just the new exercise regimen and the growth spurt hitting at the right time."

She still looked unsure, but decided to drop it for today. "If you say so honey..."

"Midoriya, my boy, this is pushing it" All Might hissed into her phone, "I know you are a fanboy, but inviting me to dinner? That's a little too-" she was interrupted by a muttering mess.

"I- I know it's just..." He paused ,trying to put his thoughts into the right words, "my mom- she has been worried about me, and I can't get her to understand..." he let out a sad breath. "It might be caused by all the times I said 'I am ok' when I wasn't, so now she isn't believing me... could you come over and tell her it's just my training?" She could feel the puppy-dog eyes from over the phone. "Please?"

_This kid…_

"Fiiiine…" She huffed, it's not like she had anything else to do after her 3 hours were done for that day. "but you match my timeframe, capiche?"

* * *

Thankfully(?) the villain activity surged during lunch hour and died down after 3 hours of constant defeat, hearing about All Might being active in town made criminals wary and they had retreated into the underbelly of the town for the day, fearing the wrath of the symbol of peace. With her daily limit reached and villains disheartened she could freely meet up with the Midoriya's for dinner.

Izuku had answered the door, looking at All Might, who was wearing simple black pants with a white shirt, holding flowers in her hand. _Sunflowers... how did she know my mom liked those? Did I mumble that out?_

"Yeah, and you are doing it again." She chuckled, "Wait, you didn't mumble out anything about me have y-"

"Hello! Are you Izuku's guest?" Asked a rather plump and short woman from behind him, he took a step back to let her see Toshiko. Her breath hitched for a second, those eyes and that hair…. She shook her head dismissing the thoughts.

"Ah- yes, Toshiko Yagi, I'm his personal trainer."

Inko was a wary person, and she would tear into anyone that would do his boy harm, but looking Toshiko up and down she relented. Looks could be deceiving but in all her years she had learned that there was no faking that maternal look she held in her blue eyes. "Ah I see, oh- come in, come in!" She gestured, unknowingly inviting All Might into their small, humble abode.

Toshiko enjoyed the homey feel of the Midoriya household, and tried not to chuckle at the All Might themed nameplate on what she assumed was Izuku's bedroom door. When they got to the living room she gently raised the flowers towards Inko "Oh- sorry, I forgot," She blustered and picked up the flowers from Toshi's hands "Izuku, hun, could you please grab a vase?" He nodded and obeyed.

"Yagi-san," She started, her voice becoming intense and ominous. "do you know what mother bears do if their cubs are threatened?"

Toshiko gulped, "I- I do."

"Do that to whoever that tries to hurt him."

"Eh?" Toshiko wasn't expecting that response.

"A mother knows, Yagi-san, you care for Izuku too. I would say paternally but that might be overstepping."

Toshiko couldn't stop the blush forming on her face, "I- I… I suppose..." she mumbled.

"In the light of that," She sighed, "I guess I can worry a little bit less now. a soft smile crept on Inko's face. Toshiko ignored the butterflies in her non-existent stomach, "when... when he was a kid, I did something unforgivable." her voice became strained. "I denied his dream... h- he never talked about it afterwards. But I saw that after that night, a disconnect formed between us, I could see it in his eyes. But regardless he was a good child and did his best to try and not worry me." She gave an empty laugh, "But that only made served to make me even more worried. But... since he met you, and you started training him, the fire in his eyes returned. I can't thank you enough for that."

"Now… please take good care of my son?"

_Well, that was easier than expected._

* * *

"Hatsume, where do you want this?" Izuku huffed, holding up an engine block in one hand and dragging the rest of the car on the other.

"Strip away everything that's not the main casing and drop it near the pile, that's gonna go into the endoskeleton build." She said over her shoulder, still messing with something on her workstation, "Oh- and rip the plating off the car, gonna use that for armor plating."

"What are you even building this time?" He asked looking over her shoulder, only for him to immediately recoil in pain when Hatsume turned on her blowtorch. "JESUS CHRIST, HATSUME! WARN ME BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT NEXT TIME!" He rubbed his eyes, willing the retina to heal a little bit faster. She blew a raspberry at him

He didn't get to see the signature V-shaped antenna.

* * *

"I thought you were gonna slow down?" All Might asked, looking at the now half-cleared beach. It had only been barely more than a month since they stopped meeting there, as Mei was pestering Izuku on the premises constantly, It would have been easy for her to connect the dots and reveal All Might's secret.

"I did...?" He muttered leaning on one leg then the other anxiously. Mei hadn't been popping up recently so he thought it would be a good time to call All Might for a check-up of the area. "Hatsume started building something big recently, so most of the salvageable material that went to her came from there." He pointed at the gaps in the trash where he had pulled the cars out, "And then she told me to clear out the rest, so I started speeding up again, should be done in uh... a week or two? Most of the heavy lifting is done now that the cars are gone."

All Might nodded, "It's alright kid," and started walking away, "or should I say 'Its All might?'"

Izuku groaned

* * *

_Well, this is heavy as hell. _Izuku hissed as he carried what amounted to 5 cars worth of steel molded by Mei, at least that's what it felt like considering it was still covered by tarps he had no idea what it actually was. He guessed it was important since Mei scrapped the beach materials after it was mostly complete. When they arrived on the beach he gently laid the giant mass of tarp on the soft sands of the beach, Mei swiftly climbing up the structure and unveiling it without any bravado.

"I- I don't know what to say..." He breathed looking up at the metal body.

It looked like a mix of him and All might: masculine and big, with polished car shells chopped and welded together formed its armor; making it look kinda like All Might's silver age suit with its colors inverted. It was large enough for Mei to be sitting on its shoulder, who was soldering away at some final circuitry. "You really outdid yourself..." He whispered, she nodded along not really paying attention, her baby still needed her for now.

"Aaaaand done!" She puffed holstering the soldering iron on her utility belt and jumping on Izuku, who was now used to her eccentricities, caught her and let her down.

"Done?" He asked, looking at her inquisitively, noticing the large bags under her eyes. "Wait when was the last time you slept?" He asked with a horrified expression.

"Saturday." She replied, briskly pressing the red button on the remote in her hand.

"Today is Friday!" He exclaimed, shocked.

"Really?"

The machine started to churn and hiss as it booted up.

**"Ȟ͍a͓̋ṿ͒e̦͐ ̺̔f͓̿e̗͌a̰̋r̪͡ ̫̐f͔̑o̙̊ř͓,̹̓ ̣̅I̩̾ ͖̑a͍͡m̛̥̲̺̉͠ ͍͔̲̓̍͘e̞̘̔̾ṽ̢̭̌͐ͅȩ͙̩͉̘̂̍͂̎͒ŗ̳̣̼̞̖̆̄̽͊̉̀y̟͈̻̩̥̹̑͌̆̋̾̔̓͘͜͟w̡̡̝̜̤̯̱̹͍͊̿̃̐͗̓̕̚̕͟h̢͎͍̭̺͉̮̙̝̽̓͗̉͊͆̃͆̓͟͡e̡̛̳̟͙̟͓͕̳͇̓͌́̆̍̂̅̚̚ͅr̢̧̛̫̟̘̘̺̳͖̩̅̂̅̔̍̏͋̿͠e̛͍̲̘̦͕̹̯̗̒͛̐͗̅͌̋̕͟͜͝"**

The voice fluctuated and distorted in a way that made it seem that the sounds it was making was not designed for human ears to listen. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Hatsume, turn it off!" He shuddered, the glowing eye of the machine locked down on him. **"Y͍̰͗̇o͚̭̎̈u̱̿n͗͟g̖ ̦̭̎͊M͖͌ḯ̯͜d͎͎̓̋ō̜̺̕r̺̓ȋ̲y͍͇̑̏a̛̻̘̿."** It hissed, making him flinch.

"I-it h-has face recognition?" He asked, taking a step closer to her and away from the machine.

"Honestly don't know, I don't even remember installing a speaker in it. It's been a blur." She chuckled, seemingly unaffected by the ungodly machine staring her down.

**"Ṁ̬̙̂o̙̽t̜̆h͉̓e̡̱͗̅ṛ̣͑͠."** The machine nodded, Mei responding with a small smile.

"Awe, my baby knows me~" she cooed. Izuku would have found this adorable if it wasn't so goddamn terrifying.

"Hatsume, why the hell did you even build this?" He whispered in her ear trying to pull her away from the machine that could, and probably would, kill them both given the opportunity.

She only shrugged at that, "I think it was for you to spar against? 'dunno, my brain is getting kinda fuzzy..." she was probably crashing now that her 'baby' was finally complete. Her sleep deprivation finally catching up to her. "night, Zuku..." She said, promptly laying on the soft sand and falling unconscious almost instantly.

"_ Don't just leave me here with it! _" He scream-whispered to deaf ears.

**"Y͍̰͗̇o͚̭̎̈u̱̿n͗͟g̖ ̦̭̎͊M͖͌ḯ̯͜d͎͎̓̋ō̜̺̕r̺̓ȋ̲y͍͇̑̏a̛̻̘̿."** It repeated, voice modulation that was now different but still off… still inhuman…

Still.

Goddamn.

_Terrifying._


	4. We the mortals touch the metals

Previously, on Total Command:

"**Y͍̰͗̇o͚̭̎̈u̱̿n͗͟g̖ ̦̭̎͊M͖͌ḯ̯͜d͎͎̓̋ō̜̺̕r̺̓ȋ̲y͍͇̑̏a̛̻̘̿**" Hissed the metal parody of All Might.

"Oh God no."

* * *

"**Å͎ctiva̢͐t̰̾í̖n͈͆g̮̀ s͉͂ubr͕͊ò̻ù̯t̥̿iṉ̐e:** sparring." He didn't know what was creepier, the voice it used, or the harsh contrast it had when it announced the subtitle. In any case, he panicked.

"Abort operation!" he commanded, hoping Mei had at least added voice recognition to the beast.

"**V̞͛ő͍ic̗̊e ̰̓c̺̉om͙̂ma̤͡nd͒͢ r͚̉ẽ͍co̦͂gní̬ze̼̐d̮̍;̱̓ s̤̓u̙͑b̦͌j̖́ę̆ct̡** Izuku Midoriya," the machine hummed. He let out a sigh of relief and picked up the tarp wrapping Mei in it.

"**V̻͠o̪͗i̡͡c̯̆e ̻̒c̺̋omm̨͋ȃ̙n͇d͚̐ ̖̐o̪͊ṿ̚e̢͒ȑ̜rų̑ḷ̛eḍ̐;͇͡ ͈̅P̄͜re͔͞p͙̑a̯̔ȓ̮e ̦͞yo̟̒ur͂ͅs̙̎el̝͛f ̈́͟t̝̚o̥̚ go̲̍͞ͅ ͔͈͑͛b͕̈e͙̋ŷ̜̞͝o̤͕̓̈n͈̞̑d̫͡,**" grumbled the machine while dropping into a combat stance.

"Oh fuck me sideways." He never said he didn't learn _anything _from Katsumi.

"**V̻̄ǫ͆ȉ͖c͖̑ẻ͈ ̢̚c̭̓o̼͗m̝̑m̨͌ań̳d͞ͅ n̬̒ot rec̪̚o̻͆g̯͂n͙͆ize̛̬d͓́.**"

* * *

Inko's maternal senses tingled. "I wonder what's that about?" she hummed, hoping her son was safe.

Elsewhere, All Might ignored the same sensation. "Hope he isn't doing anything stupid."

* * *

"WHY-" He jumped back dodging a punch. Thankfully the machine was chasing him, away from the slumbering Mei. "ARE YOU-" He used his forearm to redirect another punch away from him and onto the ground, wincing at the power behind the punch. "IGNORING MY COMMANDS?!" he managed to scream out as the machine struggled to pull its hand out of the ground.

The robot rose back up, eye locking onto his again as it started speaking."**Sṷ̓b͂͢r̨̆o̼̾ũ̩ẗ̼́i̲͡n̬è̼:̮͛ **sparring **c̲͊a̘̚n o̼͞nl͈͞y b̥͂e̞͒ ͎̎d̢͞e-ac̮͝tiv̠̋at̢̋ed iń̢ th͚̏e ̭̅ev̻e̱̍ṇ̉t ̬͘o̪͞f̻̔ ͐͢y̺̆oü͍ṛ̋ ͔̅ù̯nc̰̍ons͇͑cio͔͋u̔͜sņ̉eś͕s̯,̡̓ ̕͟m͈̒y͙͂ ͕̊in̢͊ŏ̠p̗̂e̗͂ra̩̅bil̯̔iţ͡y,̞ ̯͑or ̝̅by Mo̡̓t̜͌her'̰̊s̡͑ ̨͞c͖̏ọ̈m͕͛m̠̓an͕͒ḑ̀. ̬̓Yỏ̬ǘ̼ d͓̓o͕͑n̜̑'̮͆t ȟ̙av̭́e ̻̓th̜̿ẹ͊ ͚͑c̜͠leá̠r̢͆an̪̍ce͆͢, ͈̉Yó͚ư̬n͍͌g̳͒ ͜͠M͇͝i̝͌dȯ̦ṛiy͕a**"

_That's it. I'm gonna kill Mei when she gets up _.

He ducked under another punch

"SO! "He kicked the ground, jumping over another punch. "THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS IS TO BREAK YOU?!" he yelled, rolling up to a martial art stance. Time to learn if just watching heroes fight movies actually thought him anything

The machine roared in what he assumed was supposed to be laughter; the roar of weird tones was making him dizzy- the sound itself was triggering Izuku's fight or flight instinct enough to give him high blood pressure. "**Le̢͆ț̎s̯͠ s̘̈́eẻ͇ ̜͐i̭̔f̲͊ ̺y͔̾o̽͟u c̯a̗̒n ̯͒d͓̆o͙͛ t̳̓hå̞t͈̚ y̧͂oǔ͔ng͍̃ ̻̎ṃ̇aņ̓**"

His eyebrow twitched. _Mei gave this thing enough AI to be able to taunt people?_

This time he knew the training wheels were off. The machine hissed as the hydraulics kicked in, bounding in front of him in a simple step, arm pulled back ready to punch. Izuku barely managed to limbo under the punch, anchoring himself with an arm and kick Mecha-Might in what would be the ribs. He hissed and winced as Newton's 3rd law reared its ugly head, the machine not budging.

"**Go̥͝t͔̓t̟͌a͓̐ ̬͆h̗̔ḯ͜t ̮̅h̠́a̟̽r̰͞d̳̃e̜̽ṙ̳ th̠͌a̘̐n̻͐ ̫͠tha̦̐t̫͋,**" the machine taunted, grabbing his leg and slamming him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He kicked the hand on his ankle, managing to knock it off, standing back up instantly and taking a few steps back while gasping catching his breath.

He couldn't just break through its armor; that much was now apparent.

"**N̲̈o̧̒w̲͘,͎̒ ͎̉n̮͂o͕̒w͌͟ ̦̍d̬̎o͓̊n̪͘'̞̆t̙̍ ̱͛be̘͠ ̜̔d̙̎is̢͞co̯͡ü͔r̹͠ag̻͆ed͔̓,̗̋ y͔͂ou a͙̽lm̧̓ỏ͇s̩̀t̊͢ ̰͞s̰̓c̨̊rat̼̊č͢ḥ̾ed̯̆ m͇̏y̦̾ ̪̐p̋͜aì͈nt̪́.**" The robot laughed and ran to him again. This time when it punched, he blocked it with his own, grunting as the force pushed him back.

_Gotta watch its movements- the armor plating needs to have gaps in it while it moves- can't do that while dodging._

He blocked another punch, then another. It wasn't a standstill, Mecha-might was pushing him back one punch at a time and soon his back would be against the wall on the beach.

_Goddammit, Mei built this thing too well- every gap is covered- the joints are even layered- _he hissed as he punched again- his elbow ached loudly- _wait-_

_Its joints._

He ducked under the next punch and punched its elbow with his other hand. He smiled as it rattled slightly. _Progress._

But that smile was short lived as the machine kicked his legs under him, punching his chest as he fell down.

His vision went dark.

* * *

"Zuku, are you there, Zuku?"

He grunted softly.

"**S̱̆c̤̃ā̖n̘̽s͇̚ ̝̕ś͎h̪̎o̱͘w̰̽ ̫͘t̬̒h̙͞ả̦t͓̓ ̝͐h͕̎e̖͌ ̟̀w͉̋ơ̡n̰͌'̭͋t̠͋ ̫̿ȟ̡a̅ͅv͔̽e̫͒ ͚̾å͢n̗͆y̮̐ ͈̊l̿ͅa̍ͅs̲̉t̼i̟̇n̄͜g̳̚ ̟d̺̆a͈͊m͓͛a̮͘g̡͒ȅ̱.**"

His eyes burst open. "I have died and gone to Hell," he muttered, rolling to his side and trying to rub the sand out of his hair.

"**Ỵ͛ȯ͚ǘ̘ ͔̎a̞͌r͈͝e͙̓ ̠̾v̝̑ë̮́ṟ̍y̙̓ ̟̈́m̖̑u̻͛c̥̊ĥ̨ ͉͝a̼͌l͕͗i̪͋ṽ̮e͇, ̭̉Yo̤̅u̼̿n̖̍g̗̒ ͎͒M̊͟i̦̍d͉̂o̭͞r̞̓i̓͢y̲̒a̕͟,**" stated the machine while Mei nodded in agreement.

"This baby has the 3 laws of robotics hardwired in it; it can't kill you," she said, patting the kneeling Mecha-Might.

"**Uṉ̬̆̚f̬̅or͓̄tū͈n͐͟ȁ̝t̼̏el̺̂y͎͌͛͢.**"

Mei laughed.

"Don't say such ominous stuff when I'm still groggy," he hissed, sitting up and holding his chest. He hoped it wouldn't be bruised by next morning.

"Wait- " He looked to the two. "What time is it?"

"**I̲̕t̞͐'͕̾s̡̉ 5:̺̀3̻̌0 ̚͢pm̯̽.**"

_Thank you, giant toaster. _"Ugh, my mom must be worried." He stood up and dusted himself off. "I'm heading home, and you should too."

"**I ̬̍d͎̅o̟̾ n̪̍ě̡ed̳̓ ̥̿to̥̐ be͚͝ ̱̽r̲͘ḛ̃c͓̑h͖̾arg̝̔e͍͡d.**"

"Of course you do..." Izuku muttered out. "Oh. And Hatsume, get some proper sleep, please? I can't handle another one of..." He gestured to the Mecha-Might with his eyes.

"**I͊͢ ta̬̽k̼̽e ̹̎o̦f̉͜fens͈͒e͖̋ ̻̏tô̱ th͛͢å̫t̼̏,**" The machine hissed.

"Please," he begged.

Mei huffed but nodded in in agreement. "_ Fiiine. _"

* * *

He looked down at his body in the mirror next morning and, just as he hoped, there was no bruising. He probably force-healed the capillaries that were damaged before the bruises could form when he was unconscious. _Thank you, subconscious and thank you unnamed quirk._

_I should name it._

After a few minutes of thinking about the logistics of his quirk, something came to him.

"….Total Command," he whispered to himself. _I like the ring of that._

* * *

"**T̢͘h͒ͅe ͎͆pr͙̓o̒͟d̻̈ig̛̰ã͟l̺̈́ ş̉o̬̾n͓̋ ͔͡ṛ͑et̞̅ur͍̈́ns͖͡.**" Mecha-Might nodded at him as he got to the beach.

"Hey Zuku~" Mei chimed from its side. He could feel a headache coming already.

"Please tell me we aren't sparring again-"

"**Vo̼͛ice͉͛ ̳͌c̨̛omma̮͒ṋ͘d ŗ͑ec̢̏og̙̋ñ͈i̛̺ze̪͠d͔̀: ̳s͇͊p̟̑ar ̦͆co̹̐mm̖͝en̼̚c-**"

"Stand down," Mei ordered, stopping the mech from getting up. "I mean, I still _want _you two to fight so I can actually see my baby in action. But there's no need to blindside him, right _Zuku? _" He shivered at the way she said his name. "You would spar with all my babies for me, right~?"

He took a step back. "Absolutely not."

She entered a giggle fit at his response. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding." She waved her hand while holding her stomach, before looking him in the eye with a devilish grin.

"You don't have a choice~"

"_ HATSUME!" _

She laughed even harder and doubled over, punching the ground as she struggled to catch her breath. "Oh- Oh God, your face!"

He didn't like well-rested Mei.

She caught her breath and stood up, leaning on Mecha-Might. "Alright, alright." Izuku pouted, the cute expression looked misplaced on his muscular body. "But you do need to fight it again,. You can't be a hero if you can't even beat my baby over here." She patted the mech. "Right?~"

He knew that she was manipulating him.

But she _was _right.

"Fine, I'll talk to my trainer about it," he huffed, crossing his arms. "Should be good exercise anyways..."

"Love ya, Zuku~" she teased.

* * *

The next thing he knew, he was having dinner with his mother and All Might. He tried to hide his pleased smile behind the bowl of food he was eating.

He noticed that both of them were more relaxed in each other's presence and decided that the more they were together the better it would be for both of them. Now his mother had someone other than Autie Mitsuki to talk to and befriend.

_I wonder how she and Katsumi are doing?_

* * *

After trying for hours to keep herself hovering with consecutive blasts and falling on her ass every time, Katsumi was fed up.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

"STOP FUCKING SCREAMING!" Mitsuki berated from inside the house,

"SHUT _UP _, OLD HAG!"

* * *

_Another day, another defeat. _Izuku huffed, picking himself up from the sand and watching Mecha-Might strike one of All Might's signature poses.

"**Yȍ͓u̙͋ ̅͢go͓͗t ̈͢4% ̦̄c̡̊l̢̄ó̰s͖͑er ̥̀t͉͘o̢͂ d̻̔aṃ͌a͇̓gĭ̬n̮͆g̳̽ m̫͝e ̛̺ţ̂o̹͑da̢͒ý͇,̨͛ ̤͊go͙̾o̝̕d͍͋ jô͢b͔̈́.**" He should have been mad at that patronizing statement, but he honestly didn't have the power to do so.

_Just take the compliment_

"Way to go, Zuku~" Mei cheered from the side as she messed with...

_Is that a jetpack?_

"Yeah, yeah thanks, guys." He rolled his shoulders, popping them back into place. This had been going on for two weeks now. Initially, Mei couldn't take her eyes off the battles, but now though... now she was bored of it. And he was sick of losing to the damn machine.

_Fuck it. _He has some more fight in him.

"Hey, lets spar again," he huffed, dropping into a fighting stance.

Mecha-Might looked over him to conduct a scan. "**Al̟̏r̖i̭̒g̥͠ht yo̡̕unḡ͈ o͍͛ne̙͊,** " it brought its fists up, " **bř͎͕͗ï̲̥͐ń͈g i̺̾t̡̍.**"

They clashed fists back and forth for a time every once a while the mech would throw a un-telegraphed attack similar to the one that knocked him out the first time they fought, but he had grown accustomed to dodging those. His legs automatically jumped over the kicks, body twisting harshly on its own when his brain didn't have time to process the incoming attack.

It had finally clicked.

His body had taught itself to dodge on its own.

_Thank you, Total Command._

Now that he wasn't paying that much attention to dodging, he noticed something.

Every time he blocked the punch from the machine, its shoulders shuddered a bit.

_Weak point?_

He punched back harder, his own arm shuddering with the force when it clashed with metal. The shoulder shuddered a bit more.

_Weak point!_

He roared as he started hitting back harder, speeding up to a flurry of strikes. The machine's one eye widened in recognition. It pulled its arm back.

"**Ţ̬̮̠̋̓̕͠Ȇ̠̞̌X̹̥̬̟͐̊̓̍A̮̩͇̙̟̍̊̽̌̾S͖̽-̮͒**"

Mei perked up at that. "I didn't remove the inhibitors, what are you doing?"

Izuku flinched.

_Not backing down now. _He pulled a punch back himself and let it loose.

"**Ś̮̼̯̮́̌͐͜͠ ̯̟̝͆͞M̪̙̠̒̑͌ ̢͇͙͌́̃A͉̬͚͓͌͌̄͞ ͇͔̃͗̌͂͟ͅS͔͎͕̖̍̓͛̀ ̩̞̼͂͂̽͜͠H̛̞͈̆͆͢!**"

The two fists clashed. A large shockwave crashed through the beach.

Izuku's fist started to bleed but he held steady, fighting against the torque of the hulking machine.

He smiled through the pain.

Their fists were at a stalemate, neither budging an inch. Mecha-Might, for an emotionless robot, looked impressed. But then it's eye pulsed. "**St̡r̔͜u̙͂cturâ̻l̩̓ ̣̃i͙͐nte̻gŗ͝ĭ̫t̙̑y͉͊ ͎̿a̧t̡̚ ̻̒8̲̈0͈̀%**" It stated, Izuku cheered in his head as its arm started to lose power. The mechanical arm groaned while failing hydraulics and grinding metal echoed through Mecha-Might's armored frame.

Izuku felt his own tendons almost tearing under the immense pressure.

He just needed to hold it together for a little longer. He roared, flooding his body with adrenaline to keep it steady under the mechanical assault..

Mecha-Might swung its other fist. Izuku matched it with his own.

The sound of creaking metal filled the beach. "**Sṭ̔͜͠r̮͝u̫̒ct̡̮͋̓u̹͚͒͝r̕͢a̱̬̕͝l̰̻̏ ̥̊î̦̫̀n͓̉ţ̉ẹ̇ĝ̜͔̽r̻̃i͇͝t̗͈͑͘ý̙ ă̡̟̚t͍͊ ̖̓̑͟64̙̲̆͋%̲̇,**" the machine spat out as it pulled back its damaged arm. Izuku retracted his arm too.

"Not backing down now, are you?" he taunted.

"**G̯̓ǒ̗ ̝́be̻̪̚͡y̫̘͌͑õ̥nd̼̮̅̈́,**" it replied, pulling its arm into position.

"**Bring it,**" he growled as he pulled back his own.

Their fists clashed again.

The sound of shearing metal overtook the sounds of the waves.

Mecha-Might fell to its knees, holding its shoulder socket.

Its arm was gone.

"**Good͕̏ job͙, ̜̒you͕͠n̹͊g̟̊…̝̇. M i͚̅ ̼̉d͇̑ ȏ̆͟͜ r ̡ī̯ ̧̨̗̃̇̈ ̛̺͙̱͖͇͊̏̊͘y̨̞͍̪͌̔̑̀͢ ͚͚͍̥̲͉͆͑̏̇̏͟͝͞ ̢͓̖̱̰̠̣̬̳̟̍̊͆̅̄́̿̍̄͠ ̣̜̞̇̈͞a̯̹͙͆̉ ̨̨̝̓̽͠**" it rumbled as its systems failed.

Izuku huffed and puffed, holding his own arm. It felt like it was on fire; he probably tore most of the muscle tissue with that last punch.

Izuku started to laugh maniacally, falling to his back out of exhaustion.

Mei was on her feet instantly, a radiant smile plastered on her face. _Another failure, another opportunity to learn. Plus watching Zuku succeed is always great. _"You did it!" she cheered as she ran up to the exhausted teen, dropping the jetpack she was working on.

"I did iiiit..." he whined softly from the ground, raising his left arm up as his bloody, destroyed mess of a right arm refused to move. But the blood was already clotting and soon enough he would be able to move it..

_He's fine. Time to check out how my baby failed._

"Woah..." She looked at the machine. The shoulder joint was destroyed completely; the steel of the endoskeleton was sheared at the corner. "Metal fatigue?" she asked aloud, eyes zooming in to the surface to check it. Sure enough, she saw the beach marks: proof of metal fatigue. "You over endured it..." she concluded.

"I what?" he asked, getting up.

_A good sign._

He dragged the dismembered arm over to the main body and looked over her shoulder to see the damage.

"You beat it in a battle of attrition," she elaborated. Izuku matched her smile.

_Guess that's the way to beat opponents._

"I need to it fix it and make it better for next time," she said, getting up and taking a step back, hitting against Izuku's chest in the process.

"**No,**" he hissed. Mei paled a bit at the utter force under his tone.

"But-"

"No," he repeated, his hands grasping her shoulders and anchoring her in place.

"B-but Zuk-"

"_ NO! _"

He breathed for a second, calming down. "Just- ugh, I dunno- teach me basic robotics. You'd have an extra pair of hands to help out when you need it and you wont kill yourself anymore when you focus on these projects," he suggested, slumping. Hopefully, she would take it.

"N-" She paused for a second. _An extra pair of hands that were strong enough to beat a machine into submission... _"Alright, try to keep up~" she said in a sing-songy tone.

He let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

"So, like this?" Izuku questioned. He raised his goggles and looked down at his solder work. Mei glanced over his shoulder and nodded as he tried to ignore her chest pushing against his back and to keep himself from blushing madly. _Why does she lack the concept of personal space?_

"Yeah, good job! Now help me force this plating into place," she ordered as she walked towards some power armor.

"Yeah, yeah..." he mumbled, holstering his soldering iron and running to catch up to her.

* * *

"I can't believe we got this sidetracked..." All Might huffed, looking at the beach, then at Izuku. "How long has this been cleared for? 2 months now?"

Izuku nodded simply, looking at the now densely populated beach. People had heard the ruckus when he and Mecha-Might were sparring and avoided the space, But now with their battles over, the beach rapidly repopulated.

"Yeah, I kinda forgot to tell you with the sparring and learning robotics with Hatsume. Sorry about that All Might..."

All Might huffed. "No need to be apologetic, young man. I saw the pictures you sent of the beast; taking something like that down was a good exercise before you got this power. Speaking of which…" All Might paused for dramatic effect.

"I think it's time for you to get One for All."

* * *

"Hey, mom, would you mind making some Katsudon tonight? Oh, and do you mind if Miss Yagi joins us?" Izuku asked his mother through his phone. All Might sat on the steps of the newly-pristine beach, watching the sunset and its reflection on the ocean.

"Sure thing, Hun, having a cheat day?" His mother's chipper voice emanated from the device.

"Yeah! It's to celebrate how far I've come. Thanks, Mom! See you soon; love you." With a quick goodbye from his mom, the phone call was over.

"You worked hard for this," All Might mumbled looking at the beach. It had been years since she saw its true glory; the kid really went above and beyond.

"I-it still feels like cheating to me..." he chuckled, looking at the scenery.

Toshi laughed. "You seriously have self-worth issues don't you, Young Midoriya?" She got up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "In this world where people are celebrated for what they are born with, for the luck of the draw, it's really no wonder." She pulled him into a half hug. "But this?" She gestured to the beach. "This is a result of your hard work. You earned this, and you earned my power. Never forget that." She shifted into her hero form and plucked a strand of her signature hair.

"Now, eat this!"

...

"Eh?"

_Why can't I just have normal things happen to me?!_


	5. Beauty of innuendos

He gulped the hair down.

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick," he panted as All Might gave him a hearty slap on the back.

He didn't even budge.

"sorry, Young Midoriya, you had to take in some of my DNA to get One for All"

He shook his head. "No need to apologize; I think it's kicking in," he huffed, taking a step forward.

"Already? But you shouldn't have digested it ye-" She smacked her forehead. "Oh right, you can speed that up," she chuckled softly.

"Here goes nothing." He tried to access the new power he felt and after a moment, it burst to life, green lightning sparking around him. "Wh-what is this, All Might?"

She had taken a few steps back and was shaking like a leaf. "S-scary..."

"All Might?"

Suddenly he doubled down, bruises forming rapidly as he panted deeply, the lightning stopping as he fell to his knees.

"Midoriya?" All Might barked, instantly next to him but not knowing what to do or what had happened.

"I- I'm fine," he gurgled, coughing up some blood.

The bruises starting to fade as he forced his body to kickstart the healing process.

He gasped and rose to his feet. "I-I think I should avoid going 100% for now."

All Might nodded, still shocked. "What even happened?" she asked, her voice low.

"I think One for All overclocks all the muscles I can access." His breathing leveled out.

"Normally, that should be fine, but since I have Total Command..." He gulped. "It overclocked my heart, too. My blood vessels couldn't take the strain."

"Oh," All Might said dumbly. "We're going to Recovery Girl."

"I don't think she can do anything about this whole mess," he muttered.

* * *

"Everytime I'm here I'm more impressed," he gasped in awe.

"I hope that lasts throughout your academic career," All Might huffed with a soft smile, not really paying attention to whose territory they were walking through.

"You can't just sleep under the teacher's podium, Aizawa," pestered a sultry voice.

All Might froze. "Shit."

"All Might?" questioned Izuku from her side. _What is wrong with her fac-_

"Oh?~"

_That voice._

"What do we have here?~" asked the same sweet voice.

Izuku turned to see the source.

A woman with pure black hair, freely flowing onto her back entered his vision. She was clad in what he could assume to be S&M gear over a thin—extremely thin—skin-tight bodysuit that left little to imagination on her deliciously curvy body.

His eyes grew with a mix of recognition and embarrassment. "Midnight?"

All Might feared for her sanity and, more importantly, her student's chastity.

"Toshi... you _shouldn't _have. Seriously, my birthday isn't here for another 6 months~" Midnight licked her lips. "Where did you even find such a..." She took a step closer to Izuku. He took a step back, flushing a bit. "... _Fine _specimen? He is downright adorable, too~"

Izuku gulped.

"Haha, well, you know the thing is…" All Might started, but then the words faded away in her throat.

Midnight cocked an eyebrow waiting for the explanation... or the punchline.

"I got nothing," she muttered, then switched to muscle form, picking Izuku up. "Run back home!" she commanded before tossing him through the window.

"HEY! I WAS GONNA EAT THAT!" Midnight screeched as Izuku hit the ground and booked it.

* * *

Hours later, All Might arrived at the Midoriya household, more frazzled than usual.

"Long day, Toshi?" chirped Inko from her side.

"You don't know the half of it," she grimly chuckled as Inko muffled her giggles.

All Might and Midoriya shared a knowing, fearful look.

UA was gonna be challenging in ways they hadn't imagined.

* * *

"Ok, ok, this is great. It'll be like training: infiltrate the building before Midnight sniffs me out," Izuku reasoned, looking at the colossal grounds of the school.

"Or we could just ask Recovery Girl to come to us. Knowing Nemuri, she's probably staking out the front security office," All Might countered from his side. "Plus, there's no urgency for this. You already slept and I see no negative effects on your body. You feel fine, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, for the most part; I don't sense any internal bleeding, but you never can be too sure, right?"

"Why do you wanna go back there so much?" All Might sighed, giving in. There was no stopping Midoriya now.

"I gotta be able to go through the school without fear if I want to graduate from here, All Might," he answered.

_And Imma get an autograph from Midnight, dammit._

There was no denying that he was a fanboy through and through.

* * *

They were _instantly _caught by Midnight.

"Failed step one," hissed All Might under her breath.

"Hey there, handsome. Gonna run away again?" asked Midnight, a predatory gleam in her eye. "I hate that you left, but I loved watching you go~"

"I, uhm..." To Izuku's credit, he was holding his ground. Barely. His contact with Mei probably helped with that.

"I was wondering if you could sign this," he said finally, blush becoming neon.

All Might facepalmed. _Where does he even hide that damn notebook?_

"What's this?" Midnight lost her flirty attitude, genuinely interested in the worn pages of the notebook and marveling at the drawings of her. "These are good. Really good. Wow!" She flipped through some more pages with interest.

_He defused the situation... I can't believe it, _All Might thought, flabbergasted.

"Uh, sure, where should I sign?" asked Midnight, apparently dropping the whole 'seductress' shtick for now. Realizing her slip up, she picked it back up. "And you know..." She looked at him with the predatory glint again. "We could have a _private _session after this, I'm sure I can be a good model for a fan like you." However, her blush pretty much ruined the whole persona.

"Oh, under a picture of you is fine," Izuku muttered.

All Might nodded_ . He seems to be getting used to her already!_

Then she did a double take.

He was holding his arms around his face protectively, blushing madly.

_What is this, a bad romcom?_

* * *

"I can't believe you did that, Young Midoriya," All Might scolded after Midnight had left. "You did all of this for an autograph? You could have just asked her when you enrolled!"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, was kinda impatient. I couldn't help myself," he reasoned, waiting at her side as they made it to the infirmary without any other incidents.

"It's fine. I guess it's just who you are, isn't it?" All Might huffed as she knocked on the door of the infirmary, waiting for an answer.

"Come in," came the recognizable voice of Recovery Girl, the duo heeding her words as they let themselves in.

"Hello Midoriya, it's been a while hasn't it?" smiled the grandmotherly woman.

"Y-yeah, sorry I didn't visit sooner. I was kinda preoccupied with training," he explained, feeling guilty not visiting the old doctor.

"It's fine, young'un, I've heard all about it from Toshi. Here, have some gummy bears." She passed him some candies. "So, I'm guessing this is something important; is it your quirk?"

He shook his head."No, it's One for All. It's reacting weirdly with my body," he said simply.

All Might took a seat on an empty bed. "He says One for All overclocked his heart and the higher blood pressure burst some of the thinner capillaries. He seems fine now, but we wanted to check."

"You two are gonna really kill me one day, I swear," she huffed as she tugged at Izuku's shirt. "Come with me, Sonny. Lets check if your body managed to clean up the mess it made."

* * *

"Toshi what do you feed this boy? My word…" muttered Recovery Girl, looking through all the tests she went through.

"I beg your pardon?"

"His skeleton is five times as dense as last time and he has some undifferentiated cells in his minimal fat stores," listed Recovery Girl.

"Uh, in layman's terms, please?" All Might asked, clearly lost.

"I have stem cells in storage? I can regenerate?" Izuku muttered, pulling his lower lip in deep thought.

"It's not to the level of a regeneration quirk, but yes, I'd say you could regrow a finger if it came down to it, which probably won't even happen because your skeleton is pushing biological limits as is. Any denser and bone saws would just bounce off you," Recovery Girl said calmly. "I'm pretty sure you'd need to get run over by a steamroller to break a bone at this point."

"And no, that's not a challenge," she added quickly. "Please don't break any bones."

* * *

Mei had known Izuku for 5 months now and they had become fast friends over that time. Initially, she was only interested in him as a way to get her babies into the spotlight, but he had managed to worm his way deeper into her life.

It didn't hurt that the boy was so earnest about his dreams—similar to her in that fashion—nor did his ability to keep up with her during conversations. She knew very well how hard that could be, considering how many 'friends' she lost over that during elementary school, not that she minded that. _Friends are overrated, my babies are enough company._

_Then again..._

She looked over to the desk Izuku had begun to occupy after his victory over 'Mecha-Might'.

_That's right, I couldn't have built that one without his help, _she thought. It wasn't just his help getting the materials to the workshop, either. Without his body as her muse, she wouldn't even have imagined Mecha-Might.

"**Ȉ̼t's ̳͐n̙̄ot̺ ̄͢l͕͐ike ̙̎you͚͂ ̪̄to l̞̐o͉̿ok͇̓ ͎̂s͕̏o̬̓ ļ̐ost ỉ̭n̲͊ tho̬̚ugh̝t̳̂, ̡͊Mǫ̔t̼̓her**."

Speak of the devil.

Mecha-Might hummed to life, undocking from its charging station and rolling the shoulder Izuku had punched off. Even though she had upgraded and replaced both arms, it still liked to do that. _AI's are weird._

"Guess not, huh?" She looked over to the mess of machinery. Why _had _she made it look like All Might? Was it because she was the strongest hero?

Or was it because she was _Izuku's _favorite hero?

She shook her head. _No time to dwell on those thoughts; only 5 months until the UA entrance exams _.

Five months before Izuku made his big splash and her support materials got into the spotlight with him.

Her eyes locked onto the door as it opened. "Hey, Hatsume," announced Izuku as he walked into the workshop.

"Hey, Zuku. It's been a while," Mei chimed, watching him enter her workshop.

He smiled at her."Yeah, I'm back now though. Sorry, my trainer kept me for a whi-"

"**I͍͆, ͛͢for o̼͝ne͕̕, ̈́͜ha̠͞ve̼͡ m̭̚iṣ͐s̱̚e̬d̝̃ ͎̈ỹ̦oụ d̡͋ea̟̐rly.**"

_Oh no._

His smile soured when he saw the hulking machine behind her, holding something in place as Mei welded away.

"Ha-Hatsume, I thought I told you not to rebuild him," he hissed, crying internally.

"Zuku, when have I ever listened to you about not building something?" she asked, her voice deadpan.

"I..." He rubbed his chin and then pointed at her. "You got me there."

* * *

"How to do this, how to do this," he hummed, looking at the empty beach. It was an early Sunday morning, so the area was empty of all except him and All Might; they had a good 2 hours before anyone would arrive.

"So last time, I just tried accessing it full on, like flipping a switch," he mused, more to himself than to All Might. "What if I... What if I focus on a body part instead and only overclock the muscles there?"

"Don't you think you should wait a little bit more and reinforce your capillaries first?" she asked, basking in the morning sun. It was good for her overexerted body.

"No, that would take too long… and I don't think I could reinforce them all, even with Total Command." He hummed a bit more. "I probably could reinforce them a bit, enough to sustain One for All longer than—how long was it last time?"

"0.5 seconds?"

"Yeah, I probably could extend it longer than that, but for now I need a way to access it." He nodded. "Okay, gonna try to focus on just one limb… in 3, 2, 1!"

Green lightning cracked to life over the limb and red veins burst to life as his muscles bulged ever so slightly.

"Okay, that's promising…" He swallowed as All Might watched in worry over her pupil. "Now... time to move it."

He closed his eyes as he moved his arm a bit, cracking them open again when he didn't feel any pain.

It was stable.

He clenched and unclenched his hand, shaking his fingers around a bit. "I can work with this," he hummed. All Might smiled from the side.

He made a fist.

"Here. Goes. Nothing!"

He pulled his fist back and let loose a punch. One for All fizzled out before he could finish the motion, but the output was definitely larger than he could have produced naturally; the wind pressure kicked up sand and parted some of the waves in front of him.

He smiled.

"I can _definitely _work with this."

* * *

"I just realized," Mei mumbled, going through a catalog of tools while she sat on Mecha-Might's shoulders.

"156—realized what?" came Izuku's voice from under Mecha-Might, panting slightly as he did another one-handed push-up, the machine lifting off the ground as he did so.

"I just assumed you had no quirk," she hummed, still not looking away from the catalog.

"167—well yeah, men don't have quirks," he said, worried where the conversation was going.

"_ Exactly _," she exclaimed softly.

"170—wait, are you asking if I'm a woman? Hatsume, really?" he asked back, deadpan.

"171—you saw me shirtless? And felt me up?"

"Oh right, I forgot," she replied, not really paying attention.

"176, 177…" He stalled. "Mecha-Might, get off."

The machine complied as he rolled over to his side.

_…I do trust her._

"Hatsume," he began. She looked up from the catalog, wondering why were his words were so heavy so suddenly.

"I _do _have a quirk."

She dropped the catalog.

"I _KNEW _IT! YOU JUST HAVE A VERY FLAT CHEST!" she screamed, pointing at him

accusingly.

"No, I'm a guy! I don't know how to explain it, I just have a quirk," he said, sitting up and waving his arms around trying to dispel the accusation.

"Prove it," she huffed, crossing her arms.

"The quirk or my gender?" He hoped it wasn't the latter. _How would I even prove that? _

He blushed at an image that came up in his head.

"Gender. Quirk is apparent; you have super strength, no?" she said, not backing down.

"No, its like Total Command of my bodily func— it's not important," he huffed.

"Prooooooove iiiiit!" she hissed again.

"I don't know how to do that."

"Prooooooooooooooove iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!"

"Just trust me on this; why would I lie?"

Her eyes told him that she wasn't going to back down.

"How would I even prove it?" he asked, finally making her think about it, too.

She started to blush herself. "Oh. Oh, right."

"**I̯͆s̼̐ ̍͟th̳́is ẘ͢h͎̉at͍͡ ̰͗f͔͒li̬͐r̚͢tin͗͜g is?**" chuckled the machine from under Mei, holding the dropped catalog.

"Shut up!" they both huffed, eyes darting away from each other.

* * *

Inko looked down on the family finances, frowning slightly.

"We're getting close to the red…" she hummed to herself. With Izuku's recent eating habits, it was bound to happen.

They were lucky UA had a scholarship system, all education would be paid for by the Hero Association. _Perks of being so selective and being the number one school _.

But for now, she had to deal with her son eating enough for 3 people.

"I should start paying attention to sales and maybe look for a better job…" She looked at the day's newspaper "Oh! There is one right now. I should hurry," she muttered, leaving the house and locking the door behind her.

She hadn't noticed Izuku's cracked open door.

"Oh…"

* * *

"You need a job?" All Might asked over the phone. "I- why even call me about this? You're 18, haven't you had a part-time job before?"

He shook his head, then realizing that he was talking on the phone. "N-no there weren't ever any jobs that would accept someone that didn't have a quirk that would help out, not in a part-time level anyway."

All Might pinched the bridge of her nose. It was true, there was a recent law that let companies reject applicants based on their quirks. Not many did, but small-time gigs preferred applicants with quirks that matched the job, which meant men usually just got pushed out of the system.

There should have been an outcry over it, but then again, even if there was one, it probably got swept away from the public eye when a flashier villain attack happened.

"You know I could just pay you, right?" she huffed hoping, he would take the offer. "Being the number one hero has its perks." _Just take the offer._

"I- I can't do that," he muttered back

_Guessed not._

"Fiiiiine. I'll ask around and see if anyone knows of places that would hire men."

* * *

"He needs a job?" Recovery Girl asked over her tea. "Why come to me with this?"

All Might shifted uncomfortably. "Y-you probably know better than me."

"True." She smiled, taking a sip. "But you should probably ask Nozomi about it."

"I can't do that; she doesn't need to know about Izuku yet. What if she tells the-" The words died in her decaying throat. _Oh, right._

"She knows the pains of being a lab experiment, Toshi, she wouldn't just out him like that," she hummed.

"I also have enough leverage with the government and the Hero Association to keep him out of those places," said a squeaky voice from the P.A. system of the infirmary.

All Might's eyes went wide.

"Bold of you to assume I wouldn't know about him already, Toshiko."

All Might slowly looked around to see the camera that overlooked Recovery Girl's desk. "S-sorry, Principal."

"It's fine, I approve of your secrecy, but it won't hold out in the entrance exam. He needs all the strength he has for that one."

"Can't you just accept him with the other recommendations?" Chiyo huffed, already knowing the answer.

"Now, now, where's the fun in that?" retorted the small rodent running one of the most influential and renowned universities in Japan.

_Not that he would accept that offer anyway, _All Might thought to herself.

"Now about that job," Nozomi said, her voice lower than usual.

_…Why do I have a bad feeling about this?_


	6. And time yet for a hundred indecision's

"So" came the meek voice of Izuku, looking up to the rodent that ran the place "you want to hire me as a janitor?"

"no, no Midoriya, you are gonna do much more than that, carrying around shipments, helping with cooking- you are going to be an everyman, and in turn, UA will pay all your food needs, no questions asked," said Nozomi, something in her eyes making him wary

"Uh- does this mean I am accepted into UA already? Cause I cant- that's cheating I can't accept that" he said, still not believing his current predicament

"Oh on the contrary young one" her eyes sharpened, there was definitely an apex predator mixed into her genetics he was certain of that "I would much prefer to have you remain as a full time working employee- so if anything you will be scored harsher during the test. Good luck." She might not be human, but she seemed to have the concept of sadism down pat.

_Oh boy_

* * *

"Izuku, Hun, what is this?" Inko asked worriedly looking at her son carrying what seemed to be a months' worth of food into the house, he gulped

"I- uh I got a job mom- decided to buy groceries for the house- hope you don't mind"

She was surprised but couldn't help the motherly sense of pride bubbling in her chest "not at all, here let me help you with that"

* * *

"you gonna get a job brat?" Mitsuki asked, no real bite in her voice

"maybe At the UA campus, hag. why?" Answered Katsumi

"just curious"

* * *

"**Ș̒o, ̳͝I w̡̓a̰̎s ̠̆pr̟̚o̥̽c͙̎es̻̾s̻̀ḭ͠n̼̊ĝ̩ an̘d**" Mecha-might hummed to life "**wh̃͢y d̗ï͔d̙̒n't͈͐ h̭͋é͙ j̱̓u̞st ͈̊sh̿ͅow yo̦͆u ̘͂h̩̉i̜s̠͋ IḌ̉ t̥̓h̢̒aț̓ sho̱̐uld ̤̕hav̘̈e̹̽ h͔̃is ge̡͋nd̬̈́er̉͜ oṅ̲ ̻̈i̖̋t"**

Izuku slapped his forehead, Mei dropped her spot welder

"it took you 3 weeks to come up with that?" he hissed still blushing at the memory of that day

"**Ȉ͟t ̝̓wa̖͊s a͂͜ ͍͛ba̙͐c͓̀k͈ğ͎ro̦un̿͜d p̢̚roc̡͒ess̡̨̽̑**" Mecha-might said simply.

"doesn't matter, I know he isn't lying about it," Mei said, picking up her dropped tool and checking for damage "why were you even processing that?"

"**was̳̄ ̞̍b̫͠o̟̎red, ̰̍a̮͌nḑ Y͙͑o̻͗un̹̑g M͖̄ȉ̪d̳or̛̪i͕̔yȃ̜ ̮̉i̪͡s̻̓ c̥͑o̩̕ming̩̈́ ̧́o͚̿veȑ̡ less ̞̈an͙̿d̳̕ les̠͋s̘͋…̟́**" The machine looked down, his sculpted-on smile somehow looking sorrowful

His heart clenched a bit at that, even through the warbled voice modulator the pure emotion was going through Mecha-might's words. "h-how did you program so much emotion in him Hatsume?"

"don't know- was on concentrated coffee and less than 5 hours of sleep while building him remember?" she huffed looking over at the mopey robot "pretty sure was seeing sounds too- "

"But he is right- why are you coming over so little?" she asked eyebrow raising, walking up to him, still holding the welder. it was usual for him to be sporadic with his visits. But nowadays the gaps were getting too big to ignore. Plus, she might be missing him a _little_.

"o-oh that's cause- uh" well she knows almost everything else "I got a job at UA"

She pulled the trigger of the spot welder in shock, it sparked for a second then overheated, she dropped it before her hand got burned, but the moment it hit the floor and clattered the lights went out.

She yelped and hugged Izuku

"H-Hatsume?" he asked blush growing darker by the second.

"s-sorry- just" She pushed her head against his chest "I- I am afraid of the dark" she admitted still holding onto him for dear life. He strained his eyes trying to see in the pitch black, barely managed to get the silhouettes of objects to appear. He could only force his rods and cones to detect so much in pitch black.

"o-oh. Uh- Mecha-might can you light the place up?" he asked one arm tenderly holding Mei's back, she seemed to relax at the contact. A single red light started to illuminate the room, The single eye of the robot.

"**S͍̅o̧̎r͇͌ry yo̞͡ư̱ng M̟i̦̽doṛ͊i̙̅ya͌͟,̧̆ ̼͝l̥̊oỏ̪k̖͑ṡ̳ ͙̊l̫̑ì̜k̢̆e̯̔ ̮̽a f̙̊u̦͐s̭̃e̩͝ ̧̈ble̯̽w,̟̔ i̲͛ṯ̅s̘͡ ̙̄gonn͈͝ḁ̄ ͎̃t̙̑à̺k̨̔e̹ ̈͜a͇ w̗̄ḧ́ͅḯ̮le̊͢ tŏͅ ̰͋re̹͌plac̠̒ẹ̏**" _Of course it is_

"H-Hey Hatsume easy, its fine, I am here" she flinched a little

"quoting All might at me?" a small smile tugged at her lips _that's so him_

He relaxed a little feeling her smile against him, hugging her more comfortably, one head petting her pink locks "sorry, it was my go to"

"it's fine- it's just who you are isn't it?" a sheepish smile formed on his face

"**G̤̀oţ͊ it**" exclaimed Mecha-might, as the lights flickered back on

They decoupled slowly after that small blushes on both their faces

* * *

He opened the door to the teacher's lounge, it was his first day on the job

"So, you are the new help"

Izuku was face to face with long unkempt black hair with tired eyes, a grey scarf around her shoulders and neck, black baggy clothing covering what he assumed was a lean and toned body underneath. You didn't get to be a hero with anything less

"Uh yeah and you are- Aizawa sensei, right?" he asked kind of intimidated by the UA homeroom teacher

"I don't know what kind of irrational decision Nozomi made and hired you, but I cannot be bothered to question it" she looked to the side then started walking away- towards a yellow sleeping bag? "bring me some jelly drinks, I'm running low on those" Shiko Aizawa huffed and got into the bag falling asleep on the teachers lounge

"a-any preferences?" He asked to deaf ears.

"She doesn't have any" he turned to see someone with blonde hair in a fauxhawk, voluminous at the top and slicked back on the back. Leather jacket over her slim form with tinted aviator sunglasses perched on her nose. Present mic, otherwise known as Hikaru Yamada

"She'll drink anything as long as it has some nutritional value" quieter than usual, apparently not willing to wake the sleeping teacher "Oh and could you get some green tea for me?" she said, a sly grin forming on her lips

He nodded.

"And some Berry match for me hot stuff?" Midnight Called out from her seat

"Nemuri stop that, he is employed now, he could sue for sexual harassment" Aizawa hissed eyes snapping open, then promptly closing them again falling asleep.

"Awe you are no fun" Midnight huffed pouting cutely

Izuku shook his head blushing lightly _not that I really mind_

"Alright anything else?" he asked taking notes on his phone for the other teachers

"Some sweet tea for me, pardner" chimed someone with a weird accent, sounded slightly American but- his eyes searched for the source, someone wearing a cowboy hat her visible black hair styled into dreadlocks, rest of her body hidden under a red cape, he could see her one arm as it crept out of the cape messing with the lounges tv remote, strong muscular arm clad in bicep high gloves, another pair of heavier duty gloves on-top of those. Snipe according to all documentation given to him. _Wonder what's her real name?_

"Snipe, where is he going to find sweet tea like you want over here, we are in Japan?" questioned someone with a nasal voice, his eyes drifted to the source, someone wearing a helmet that looked to be salvaged from an excavator, frazzled orange hair spilling out from the bottom of it wearing a bright yellow vest, akin to those worn by heavy machine operators, covering her upper torso. With simple blue pants covering her legs. her metal tipped fingers drumming against the coffee table. Power loader, real name; Hitomu Maijima "oh uh- some Burning Black Coffee for me" she added

"you're drinking stuff endorsed by _her_?" Asked Midnight squinting at the support course teacher

"hey, its good coffee" Power Loader shrugged

"uh- Snipe sensei, is it alright if your order was a little late? I think I need to make that myself" Izuku muttered, poking his chin with his phone

"its fine" she said relaxing onto the couch

"Alright, uh- I got the pager from Nozomi, if any of you need anything just message me there," he said getting out of the lounge, and starting to walk to the nearest convenience store

"Good kid wonder where Nozomi found him?" Power loader hummed. Midnight kept her mouth shut about seeing him with All might before.

"Dunno, but color me content, we can laze around more now- wonder how his tea is gonna taste like" muttered snipe cupping her hands behind her head "Also Midnight don't go cradle snatching now ya-hear?"

"he isn't _that_ young"

"neither are you, what are you gonna be 26 this year?"

Her eyebrow twitched killing aura flaring around her

"I take it back" she mumbled tensing slightly

* * *

He got back, passing the drinks to everyone, ignoring a flirty wink from Midnight, and leaving a carton full of jello drinks for Shiko to dig into when she woke up. Proceeded to make and pass Snipe her American sweet tea.

His pager blinked, Nozomi was calling him to her office, bidding everyone a farewell he made his way to the office of the head of UA. "Have you requested me Principal?" the rodent nodded

"good work integrating into the faculty, Midoriya"

he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "thanks"

"Know that none of them know that you are going to be enrolling soon, keep it that way." Something mischievous glinted in her eyes

_She really likes to play around with people, doesn't she?_

"No, its more of a test of their professional skill" she added seemingly reading his mind "They will be grading your scores in the exam you know, it's a great time to see if they would succumb to grading you higher due to your contact with them. No favoritism allowed~"

He sweat dropped, why was she having so much fun over this?

"You can go ahead and help out Lunch-rush with preparing the food now," she said shooing him away with her paw

* * *

Another boring day at high school over, he huffed and walked out the weather was cold, he looked down on his phone. 4 C°

"huh"

He wasn't wearing a coat, he hadn't thought the weather was _that _cold while he was getting out of the house that morning_. Maybe my body is increasing its internal temperature on its own?_

Well, that was plausible, given how his subconsciousness tended to work in the background, keeping his body at optimal functions _maybe my metabolic efficiency went down to produce more heat- wonder what my maximum is-_

"What are you on about _Deku_?" Katsumi seethed, he hadn't noticed her walking behind him, nor that he had started mumbling again. Her words didn't have the bite they had 5 months ago. She was wearing a heavy coat, making her flush a little. _Probably to keep her sweating and ready if something happened again_

"O-Oh its nothing Kacchan" He backed off raising his hands, trying to look like a non-target

"Bullshit- you are up to something" She hissed, some of the bite returning "you hiding something from me?"

"I- uh" he babbled

"Well?"

"I ha-have been training to be a hero more lately- "he admitted

"I noticed that nerd" _hard not to notice with how much muscle you got, what am I an Idiot? _She shivered a bit when a gust of wind swept by them "aren't you cold dressed like that?"

"n-not really?"

She huffed and stomped away, he noticed her longer hair

_huh, long hair looks good on her _he mumbled unintentionally

"STOP FUCKING MUTTERING YOU IDIOT"

* * *

"so Zuku"

He turned around to look at Mei who was fiddling with something in her hands "you said your quirk was Total command right?"

He nodded "yeah, why?"

"I am building your hero suit remember?"

He flinched at that "y-you are? But I didn't even get accepted ye-"

"we both know you are gonna make it in" she vibrated with excitement cutting him off "Cannot wait to make new babies at UA~"

"I- uh… ok" he accepted still kind of shocked by her utmost trust in his abilities. He knew she had believed in him somewhat, but this was the next level.

"Plussss- with your quirk so versatile the possibilities are endless in the design," she said vibrating slightly more. she tossed the thing she was messing with at him "I was thinking something like this"

He grabbed it mid-air and shifted it around surprised by the weight. It was a gauntlet, the shell iridescent like his hair, it had some bulk to it towards the elbow like a storage unit, insides were covered in red polymer and what looked to be a few vital readers "Hatsume how long have you been working on this?"

"a few weeks try it on" she commanded, and he complied unlatching the undersides of the metal tube and pushing his right hand inside the metal glove, the device locking itself as he got it secured in it.

"It's still in the heavy prototyping stage but" she walked up to him and held his arm up, a screen coming to life over his wrist "It follows your vitals- but also clench your fist, and then tense each finger separately from right to left"

"like this?" he questioned as he tensed his pinky to his forefinger

Text appeared on the screen 'User input accepted, Izuku Midoriya, tense your forefinger to continue' he complied 'Welcome to limb extension 1.0, prototype A' continued the text on the screen

"well that's a good enough example for now" Mei said taking him out of his wonder filled trance "planning on coding it so it only accepts input after a certain sequence of muscle contractions, something only you can do" she said crossing her arms "its going to be your utility belt of sorts, how much can you carry on your arms before it becomes too hindering?"

He looked at her like she was a goddess

"I- uh- no clue- maybe like 50 kg each arm?" he mumbled

"Oh! That's great I can fit even more stuff in then!" she said happily smiling broadly

* * *

"hmmmm…" he squinted at Mecha-might

"**you w͖̍ant t̝̉o̥͝ ̩s̫͛p͎̂ar ͌͢or̤͆ soṃ̀eth̛̭inĝ̢ ͢y̯̎o̝̾un̼͠ġ͕ ͊͢M̠̍i̠͛dor̔͢iy̜̕a?̩̄**" the machine asked looking down at him

"no… I wanna try something, would you mind?" he raised his hand and brought it closer to the machine

"**n̯̐ȍ͍ ĝ̡o a̗͠hea͍͠d̘͌**" he responded

He pushed his hand against the metal frame and forced his tactile neurons into over-drive. He hissed as the sensations got a little too much for his brain to handle, eyebrow twitching. He refined the sensitivity to only his palm and let out a calming breath. "there we go"

He waited for a second and increased the force of his heartbeat, feeling the vibration travel through his hand onto the frame of the machine, slowly an image of the internals started to appear in his mind, all the turning gears, wires and hydraulics and steel endo-skeleton. With his knowledge of fabrication and robotics gained from Mei he could find the weak points in the armor and the internals

"woah" he mumbled taking his hand away and shaking it letting the nerves calm down "I knew I could amplify senses but this. This is new"

"**w͍̾h͍͘ä̮́t d̨͊id ̉ͅyoú̱ d̠̃o?**"

"I think I just taught myself a sort of bio-sonar gotta tell Hatsume about it, thanks Mecha-might"

"**ẏ̠ou̗͡'r̦͐e welc͎̾o̲m̳̔ȅ̱**"

* * *

Working on the support gear, working for UA and the schoolwork finally filled his daily schedule, the next 3 months passing before he knew it

"Midnight's birthday is coming up isn't it?" he hummed to himself while cooking at the UA kitchen. Wearing an apron and his hair pulled back in a small ponytail, hands gloved as he cut vegetables for curry.

Someone wearing a chef's uniform with a metal mask covering her face, Lunch-rush, nodded "yeah March 9th -wait how do you know it was close?" she asked looking away from the rice she was cooking

"Haha- well I am kind of a hero fanboy…" he admitted tugging at his gloves shyly "yours was uhh…. June 17th?" he hummed aloud

"Impressive" she nodded "In anycase- why are you asking? Going to give her a gift?"

"…hadn't thought about it but…. Maybe?" he hummed back pouring the vegetables into a pot "you got any ideas?"

"you are the fanboy here, you probably know what to give her already- right?"

He pinched his chin _…I might?_

* * *

He remembered how pleasantly shocked she was when she saw his notebook, her facial expression was burned into his brain. He grabbed his drawing utensils and a sketchbook from his desk.

"hmmmmm…." He groaned looking at the page- "no this isn't going to be big enough" he pulled open his cupboard, grabbing some bigger, better paper and some charcoal- _oh god this is gonna be hell to clean up afterwards_

He looked at the empty white of the paper, the abyss looked back.

"let's just get this started" he huffed, cracking his neck and dumping some charcoal dust onto the page, spreading it evenly with a rolled-up wad of tissue paper

"hope she likes it" he muttered grabbing the vine charcoal and starting to sketch


	7. Then it enters our hearts

"Okay, where did this come from..." he asked himself, looking at the now-finished artwork.

It was Midnight in her hero costume stepping on a large, defeated villain with her thorned whip in her hand. She was striking one of her signature poses, her eyes sharp and resolute, mouth twisted in a lopsided smile, like one would get after overcoming unbeatable odds.

He looked at the clock.

Six hours had passed. Almost morning.

_Woah, I zoned out._

"Too late to sleep now, guess I'm gonna match Aizawa today," he hummed to himself, grabbing fixative and heading to the porch to finalize the poster of Midnight.

* * *

That day was absolute hell. He almost fell asleep during class four separate times, but was startled awake by an outburst from Bakugou each time. Later, he actually _did _fall asleep during his training with All Might.

The pro hero was impressed he managed to fall asleep during bench pressing, snoring lightly as his arms continued to move the heavy bar up and down.

"I am here," Izuku said absentmindedly walking into the lounge like he owned the place. The teachers perked up expecting Aizawa or All Might, not the usually meek Izuku.

"Oh God, it's spreading," Hikaru whispered, looking at the sleeping Aizawa and Izuku, who was apparently stealing her look for today with his sleepy eyes adorned with heavy looking bags.

He facepalmed, hand dragging down his face. "S-sorry didn't get enou—_any_—sleep last night. I'm kinda out of it," he huffed, leaning onto the coffee table for support. "Any orders?"

The teachers looked at each other, feeling some sympathy for the 18-year-old. They all knew the pain of pulling an all-nighter, as it came with the job.

"Yeah," announced Nemuri, causing Izuku to groggily pull out his phone.

"Another berry ma-" he began.

She scooted over and patted the cushion next ot her. "Take a seat, you look like you need it." The others nodded, going back to whatever they were doing.

He looked at her shocked at first. "Are you su-"

Her sharpening look was answer enough.

"Alright then," he mumbled, shoving the device back in his pocket and taking a seat on the couch, sinking into the inviting surface. "Comfy…" he mumbled, falling asleep almost instantly.

"Clearly the only rational thing to do in this situation," said Shiko, who was apparently awake now.

"Do you like, not sleep in there? Do you just keep your eyes closed or something?" asked Hikaru.

"That would explain why she looks so sleep deprived even if she naps constantly," added Hitomu.

Izuku's head dropped to the side and onto Midnight's shoulder, causing the women to start blushing.

"Wow, bold move from the kid," quipped Snipe, chuckling softly. "You think he's faking it?" she asked Hitomu, who promptly shook her head.

"He's been working here since December; do you think he can pull that off without blushing like a tomato?" she asked, a sly smile gracing her features.

"Fair point, he really did look out of it today, anyway. How are you faring, Midnight?"

"Absolutely wonderful," she said, voice slightly strained.

"Heh, cradle snatcher," Snipe chuckled, causing Midnight to glare at her angrily, which in turn caused Izuku's head to fall onto her lap, making her flinch.

"Is this sexual harassment?" asked Hitomu.

The rest shrugged, looking at the R18 hero who started to match her glasses in terms of color.

"They look kinda cute like that," Snipe muttered.

"I ship it," Present mic stated,

"**Can you not?**" whisper-shouted Midnight, eyes twitching in anger, blushing even harder.

Present Mic knew she was only safe because Midnight was anchored by the sleeping man.

* * *

He woke up groggily three hours later, Midnight coming to focus. He started to blush madly and rolled off her and the couch, falling onto the floor with a thud. "S-Sorry, I must have fallen asleep," he stuttered, crawling backwards, back hitting the coffee table. Some of the teachers laughed at that, while others smiled.

"Told you he wasn't doing it on purpose" chimed Present mic, Snipe nodding along.

"It's fine, you needed the rest, didn't you?" asked Midnight, smiling softly; ignoring the banter between the sound hero and the sharpshooting hero. "We already messaged Nozomi and Lunch-Rush, they said it was fine for you to take a break so don't worry about that either."

His eyes widened at that. "Ah, shit," he mumbled, looking at his phone, seeing the time.

"Language," Aizawa hissed in her sleep, causing the rest of the faculty to chuckle.

He scratched his head sheepishly and got up. "I gotta go, my mom might get worried about me-"

he said, getting ready to leave. "Oh!" He stopped, snapping his fingers at the realization.

"It's your birthday today, isn't it, Kayama-Sensei?" He started digging around his backpack as her eye twitched.

_I swear if he mentions my age…._

"Here," he said, pulling the rolled-up poster he made last night, handing it to her. "I hope you like it; happy birthday."

With that, he dashed off.

"Oh? Our boy has some moves," chimed Snipe. "You're gonna need to find a stick to beat the girls off of him, eh Midnight?"

She didn't answer, her eyes locked firmly onto her picture on the paper as she unrolled the sheet.

Hikaru got up and looked over her shoulder. "Wow, didn't know he could draw that well," she hummed looking at the poster up and down. "He's full of surprises, isn't he?"

"He sure is," Midnight said absentmindedly, a small smile gracing her features.

"Wonder if that's why he didn't get any sleep last night," Power Loader said, leaning back.

The look in Nemuri's eyes turned a little bit guiltier, but even more thankful for the gift.

* * *

A few weeks later the room shifted back to its usual state, Aizawa sleeping on the floor and the rest just messing around.

"Vlad, where have you been?" hummed Snipe as the hulking figure clad in red skintight spandex walked in, Izuku looked over from the dishes he was doing. Short, spiky silver hair glinted under the fluorescent lighting of the teacher's lounge. She had a slight underbite, letting her lower canines poke out over her upper lip. Her physique was something to behold, a far cry from the other teachers, with large sculpted muscles covering her body.

_Vlad Queen. Civilian name; Shiori Kan_

"Well unlike Caterpillar there-" she pointed at Aizawa in her sleeping bag "I still have a class, and they have been training their ultimate moves for a while. Why did you think Cementoss, Ectoplasm and me have been missing for so long?"

The rest of the teachers shrugged.

"This year's haul didn't have any potential at all," Aizawa said plainly, "and if they need this much hand-holding for ultimate moves, that only proves my point. It's Illogical to waste time on them."

"What's illogical is that you have a goddamn sleeping bag, lie in it all day, yet you don't sleep in it," hissed Shiori, not liking Shiko's tone. Her crimson eyes landing on Izuku. "Who are you, a new stude-" Her eyes widened. "A man?"

The rest of the staff looked baffled, while Izuku stiffened for a second.

"Di-did you not read Nozomi's email?" Hikaru asked, deadpanning. "She told us we were getting someone to help out here and there with 'chores'."

"OH, THAT!" Shiori exclaimed, fist hitting her palm in an 'aha' moment, causing the rest to sweatdrop.

"Uh, Midoriya Izuku, at your service," he announced bowing slightly as his phone and pager pinged. "O-Oh sorry, not at your service right now. Lunch-Rush needs me, uh-" He pulled out his pager. "Principal Nozomi gave me this, if you need anything just ping me here- but I need to be going now." He quickly finished drying the mugs he was washing and dashed out of the room.

"Huh. Polite kid," Shiori huffed, nodding in agreement.

"You don't know the half of it," Nemuri mumbled.

"You got a frame for that picture yet, lover girl?" Snipe teased.

Nemuri got up and hugged the sharpshooter from behind, causing the teacher to fluster under the mask.

"Mention that again~" she hummed, voice heavy and breathy, "and I will make sure no. One. Finds. Your. Body. ~" she singsong-ed, hand walking down her torso in a teasing manner.

The rest of the teachers shivered. With Izuku around, acting like a lightning rod, they had started to forget how sadistic and flirty Midnight was towards _everyone_, not to mention terrifying when she wanted to be.

"What picture?" Shiori mumbled to the closest teacher, who happened to be Present Mic.

"I'll tell you later," whispered Hikaru, trying her best to not land in Midnight's crosshairs.

* * *

He huffed, looking over the piece he was working on in secret. It was something he cooked up after seeing Mei's apparent deep fear of the dark: some goggles that shifted into night vision automatically based on the light levels of the environment. He was busy making the shifter work faster, so the user wouldn't have to deal with the dark too much, nor would the light suddenly coming on be an issue.

"Got less than a week to finish this," he hummed, looking over the device. "More than enough time."

"Maybe I could reinforce the lenses and add a weld-cover so she can use it more often?" he hummed, looking at the simple goggles. His eyes widened, remembering the minimal posters around Mei's workshop.

"Maybe…"

* * *

"I swear if you blast me with that fire extinguisher when I am not on fire one more time, I'll break you worse than Izuku ever did," she hissed at Mecha-Might.

"**N͗͢o ̞͐p̘̈r̓ͅo̤̐m͎͘is̯̄es̹̑.**"

"Hey Hatsume," Izuku said, walking through the gates of the lab, watching her stand in the middle of the workshop in her hover-boots. "Testing the goods?"

She nodded, turning the boots on and smiling in delight as she started to hover a couple centimeters over the ground. She shifted a foot and let the propulsion push her towards him.

"Test success!" she announced proudly, not noticing her apparent lack of brakes.

His eyes widened. "Hatsume watch ou-" He was cut off by her knocking into him, taking them both down to the ground.

"Oh right, forgot the brakes," she mumbled as an afterthought, not noticing their rather _compromised _positions, her chest pushing against his.

"Shouldn't you wear protection for this?" he said, rubbing the back of his head, blushing but trying to ignore the sensation of her on top of him.

"I trust my babies," she said, pushing her tongue out at him.

"Fine, fine," he said, surrendering to that 'logic'. "But guess what day it is."

"Ah, uh, you came over so… Saturday?" she asked, not really the best at keeping track of the dates and days.

"It's April 18th," he said, giving her a hint.

"…And?" She got off him and then her eyes widened. "Wait, is it our anniversary?"

"D-don't phrase it like that," he said blushing as he stood up as well. "And no, it hasn't been that long since we met."

"Huh. Feels like I've known you my entire life," she mumbled, not really thinking about it.

He could agree with that.

"Don't get sidetracked, It's April 18th," he repeated, trying to grab her attention again.

"Still doesn't ring a bell," she huffed, starting to get a little annoyed.

"**It's̖̚ ̻͝yo͋ͅur̭̍ ̜̊birț̋h̗͠day̬͗.**"

"Huh?" She turned around to look at Mecha-Might. "OH, IT IS!"

"**Hap̱͊py b͈̑ir͢͝thdä̢y̧̌, ͇́Mȍ̝the̪͋r,**" chimed the robot, its voice getting somewhat softer.

"Aw, thanks," she mumbled, not really knowing what to do. It had been too long since anyone had celebrated her birthday

Some shuffling brought her attention back to Izuku, where she saw him pull out a large gift-wrapped box from his backpack. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged in their collision.

He looked back up at her. "Happy birthday, Hatsume," he said with a dazzling smile, passing the box to her.

For a few seconds, she only looked at the box, her brain not really clicking into gear ."I...' she blabbed.

"C'mon, open it," he said, smiling wider at her confused expression, and prompting her to finally move. "I thought you might like it."

She looked at the goggles with an awestruck expression. "H-how did you-" she mumbled, looking at the craftsmanship. Izuku had definitely built it; she would recognize his precise welding anywhere. It only added to the overall aesthetic of the structure, large red-barreled goggles housed on a red metal band, riveted into place, with two pieces of tubing coming out of the sides and a valve to the side.

Steampunk. Just how she loved it.

She was broken out of her trance by Izuku panicking. "H-Hatsume is everything alright?" he blustered.

She looked at him in confusion, then noticed the wetness on her cheeks.

_Oh… _

She wiped her arm over her eyes. "S-sorry, I just- love it," she nodded, smiling widely. "I love it so much Zuku, thank you."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Don't thank me yet, try em' on first!"

She did as such, the leather lining inside the goggles fitting around her head like a dream, the barrels felt a little heavier than she had expected, but the added heft didn't really bother her.

"Okay, hit the lights Mecha-Might!"

"**Ḫ͑it̗͆t͔͑in͒͟g ̜̔the ̪̄l͔̊į͞g̬͊ht̫̂s.**"

"Wait, no-" Why had he forsaken her like this?

When the darkness fell she was expecting to be scared out of her mind, but instead, she was shocked by a 'click' from inside the goggles and her vision going green.

"Y-you added night vision?" she asked, looking at Izuku, seeing him like it was daytime, albeit lacking colors other than green.

"I thought you might need it…" he said sheepishly, looking at where he thought Mei was, blinded by the dark. "It also has hardened lenses so you can wear it as protective gear."

The lights turned back on, she was surprised that the green night-vision went away instantly. "Plus, if you twist the barrels, you can engage the 'welding mode'."

She stared at him, her emotions unreadable due to the goggles blocking her upper face.

"I am so glad I met you," she mumbled, hugging him, new goggles digging into his side.

His eyes darted away in embarrassment and patted her back awkwardly. "The feeling is mutual."

* * *

"I forgot I forgot I forgot," he hissed, hi pencil almost burning up in his hand from how fast he was sketching. "I forgot her birthday while focusing on Hatsume's goggles, _dammit!_"

"Whose?" asked someone at his door.

"Kaccha-"

His hand stilled as he looked up to see the skeletal form of All Might.

"The girl you saved all those months ago? The one that screamed at you after you did?" she asked, leaning on the doorframe. "Oh, and your mother says that 'the food is almost ready'."

He dumbly looked at her a little bit more.

"Can- can I ask you to sign something?"

* * *

It was her birthday. She had hoped that it would be apparent and people around her would have celebrated. Or have at least just wished her a happy birthday.

She didn't get any on that.

"Dammit," she mumbled when she was out of earshot of everyone and almost at home.

"I'm back," she announced, kicking the door open and was greeted by her mom screaming back.

"STOP DOING THAT!"

She huffed, tossing her bag to the side. "No."

It had gotten to her that not even Izuku had celebrated her birthday, not that she deserved it.

"Oh, Izuku came over a while back, out of breath. You chase him here or something?" teased Mitsuki.

"He's here?" she asked, not believing her.

_How'd he even beat me here? He was still in the classroom when I got out and I never saw him on the road._

"Nah, he said something about a job and dashed off. Why didn't you tell me he got so jacked, huh? Planning on keeping him all to yourself?" teased Mitsuki again.

"What the _fuck_ are you talking about, old hag?" Katsumi tried to deadpan, but the effect was lost when she started to blush heavily, her voice cracking a bit.

"You sound like you know~" she teased. "Ah, my little girl is growing up so fast~"

Katsumi's hands crackled. "Anything else?" she huffed, growing tired of this whole maternal teasing shtick.

"Oh yeah, here."

Her mom tossed a large tube at her, which she recognized as one of those poster packages.

"You got me a birthday gift?" she huffed, looking at the label.

'Happy birthday, Kacchan'

"No fucking way."

"Why do you think he stopped over, just to see me?" her mom teased more.

Katsumi ignored her and slowly went upstairs to her room.

"Hey, don't ignore your mother."

She closed her door behind her and opened the poster as gently as she could, not wanting to damage it.

She was face to face with one of his pictures of her unleashing a massive explosion with a vicious and victorious smile on her face, her hair pulled into a ponytail as she wore the hero costume they had designed as little kids.

When they were still best friends.

She noticed the signature on the bottom.

_Wait, that isn't his handwriting._

"Holy shit."

It was All Might's signature, with 'I am sure you'll be one of the best heroes of our time' written underneath it.

"You goddamn nerd," she sniffled a little bit, a small soft smile on her face.

Something she could only do inside closed doors.

"Thank you."

"SAY THAT TO HIS FACE!" her mom screamed from the other side of the door.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU COUGAR!"


	8. And once when you look death in the face

"It's time" he breathed staring at the gates of UA.

It was April 24th, the day of the practical exam. "They really are cutting it close" he huffed walking through the gates

"The exam is too close for move in- then again the written portion was at the beginning of April- they might just give out the acceptances tomorrow or the day after-" he imagined Nozomi cackling evilly "and this might be just to amp up the stre-"

"Stop fucking mumbling Nerd" Grumbled Katsumi from behind him, taking him out of his trance. Her voice was loud enough to attract the attention of other test- takers, eyes landing on her then gravitating to the man right next to her.

The crowd around them succumbed to whispering at each other, or just looking at Izuku in shock

"Kacchan- could you please keep your voice down? Your attracting too muc-" he meekly started, getting cut off

"I'LL KEEP MY VOICE DOWN WHEN YOU STOP THIS SUICIDAL NONSENSE_, **DEKU**_" She screeched

He didn't back down. Keeping his ground.

She huffed and passed him by, her shoulder slamming against his, hair trailing behind her.

_That could have gone better _both of them thought.

Izuku, now hyper-aware of all the eyes on him decided to just ignore it and continue walking towards the main hall for the orientation on the exam. Closing his eyes as he did so. _This shouldn't get to me I am ready for this exam, more than enough_

He really wasn't

His foot caught on a slightly higher brick on the pavement, causing him to trip.

_Oh, way to go **Deku** _he chided himself, preparing for a martial arts flip to not slam down on his face.

Moments before his roll; something touched his shoulder, inertia flipped him forward as his weight left him; his momentum dying midway though. Causing him to float upside down.

"eh?"

"Oh sorry- didn't know you were gonna do that," said a bubbly voice, he looked down(?) to see her face, a little round with two pink blush-marks right on her cheek-bones. Face framed by brown hair that seemed to disagree with gravity, floating at her sides with supernatural volume.

He tried his best to ignore his inner-ears going crazy with the sudden lack of gravity throwing them off, he also tried to ignore that he could see up her skirt. _Thank god she is wearing shorts under there_

She grasped him by his ankle and softly rotated him back, right side up. "I shouldn't have used my quirk but- it would have been bad luck if you fell down right?" her eyes were still closed, her mouth in a soft smile. Sunlight hitting her hair just at the right angle to highlight her hair like a halo

She looked angelic.

She clapped her hands, he thought it was her apologizing again, but he realized it was her dispelling her quirk when he felt his weight return

"lets both do our best on the exaaa-" She opened her eyes midway through saying that. His emerald eyes met her brown ones for the first time.

"aaaaaaaaa-" she started blushing wildly, the blush-marks growing to encompass all of her face.

_Well that's a reaction I am not used to_

"Uh- Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you," he said reaching a hand out blushing slightly. She was adorable

"U- Ura" she started blush getting even darker "rararar-" her quirk accidentally activated, causing her to start to float upwards "rarara" Panicking he grabbed her by the shoulder, hoping that her quirk was hand-contact only.

That caused her to blush harder "RARARA-"

His phone pinged. _5 minutes till the start of the orientation_

He started sweating "could you turn off your quirk the orientation is about to start"

it was useless. She was too caught up in her own panic to even hear the outside world.

He could relate to that.

"uh- sorry about this" he said, more than to himself rather than her, and grabbed her by the wrist, starting to pull her towards the Auditorium like a red balloon

No one noticed the brick sink back onto the pavement

* * *

The general banter of the auditorium brought her out of her fluster, she poked his hand, looking away from him

Seeing that she was slightly back to her senses he pulled her down further, letting her disengage her quirk and land on her feet safely. She muttered a soft thank you and dashed away to her seat

"I should do that too" he muttered looking down to his exam ticket, 2234. He searched for the seat in the area. Right next to Bakugou.

_Great_

He took his seat next to her, causing her to huff in annoyance. He grimaced but held steady, waiting for the orientation to start.

The lights went dark and a spotlight shone at the podium

"EVERYBODY SAY HEY" Announced Present mic, shifting into her radio persona

She was met with silence

"a dignified response" she muttered under her breath, but it was still audible to the crowd

"LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD! YEAH!" she exclaimed trying to get someone to react.

Izuku looked around, no one was taking the bait, and he wasn't prepared to take the spotlight in here

"tough crowd today" she huffed, her chin scratching against her neck amp as she pouted

"For the listeners just tuning in, today is the day of the practical exam, it's one of the requirements for your application for the hero course" she pulled a remote out of her pocket and clicked it, the screen behind her coming alive, a big box with 'you are here' written on it showing up on it

"you all have been assigned test areas, which is on your exam ticket" she clicked button again, 7 other boxes showing up connected to the main box, labeled alphabetically. "In these areas you will be battling faux villains for 10 minutes, scored-" she clicked the button again, a stylized cityscape and 3 silhouettes appearing on the screen "1 to 3, defeat a villain, and you will get the amount of points it has been labelled as"

"more information can be found at the pamphlets on your desks" she droned on, slowly getting irritated by the matter of fact announcement. It was not her style.

"EXCUSE ME" came a loud voice, the whole auditorium suddenly shifting focus to someone with short navy hair, which looked to be blow-dried in a wind tunnel, and black rectangular glasses; with her hand raised high in the most mechanical fashion.

"Yes number 7111?" asked Hikaru, eyebrow raising over her aviators. A spotlight clicked into life illuminating the interrupter

"this pamphlet states that there are 4 faux villains, and if this is a misprint; UA as the most prominent University in the country should be ashamed." She turned around with precision, pointing at Izuku "Also you; male, the general studies exam is not here"

Izuku looked baffled. And to his shock a spotlight clicked over him as well "I- I know?"

Before she could go on Present mic cut in, sweating a little under the aviators "Ok, ok 7111, It wasn't a miss-print I was just about to get to that-" she huffed and clicked a button "the 4th type is a 0 pointer-" a huge silhouette appeared on the screen towering above the first 3 "it's more of an arena trap than something you need to defeat, and a pain in the neck to deal with- I'd suggest running from it"

"Also- UA has opened the doors for male applicants for the hero course two years ago, he probably has the right place if he has a seat" she continued voice growing strained, which only Izuku had picked up on. _Why **is** he here?_

"Ah- my apologies" the interrupter huffed and bowed at 90° sitting back down

"now with that explanation, LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED" She screeched, dropping back to her Radio persona "ONE LAST THING FROM ME LISTENERS, REMEMBER THE SCHOOLS MOTTO; GO BEYOND, **PLUS ULTRA"**

"PLUS ULTRA" the auditorium cheered

_Not that tough of a crowd after all_

* * *

Next thing he knew, he was standing at the gates of the faux city flanked by other test takers, he saw a glimpse of brown and saw the girl from the entrance "should at least get her na-" His mouth clamped shut when a hand landed on his shoulder

It was the stiff girl with the glasses from the auditorium

"Are you here to unnerve us? Were you per chance hired by UA to see what we would do in an unforeseen situation?" she questioned. Her eyes hidden by the lens flare of her glasses.

"Uh- no? I am here to take the practical exam just like you" he said looking down slightly not used to other people being around his new height of 195 cm, _she is what 185? Pretty built though- _he focused on her physique to try and dispel the anxiety bubbling up from everyone looking at him. Smirking.

_One less competitor _echoed through their collective minds

She huffed looking away "an unsightly lie- why would a man even take this exam- you can't pass it without a-"

"AND START" Screamed Mic from the watchtower

Taking his chance to escape from their eyes, and the girls questioning; Izuku shrugged the hand off and ran, everybody ended up looking at his trail like he was a madman

"that boy can run I swear-" mic muttered looking at him go "Well what are you all waiting for? There are no countdowns in real life- gogogo!"

Everyone else started running behind him like a herd

Izuku at the lead was the first to reach a faux villain. A 1 pointer.

"Target sighted mu-" the robot was cut short when Izuku sped up even more, shoulder-tackling the machine into his nearby brother. The machine sparked and exploded, taking both out at the same time

"that- that was easier than I thought"

"huh knew he was built- but _damn_" Hikaru whistled watching from the tower

* * *

"6 MINUTES REMAIN" echoed Mic's voice

Izuku ripped a rocket launcher from ontop of a 3 pointer, reaching in the newly opened hole and dislocating the main heatsink. When he jumped off the machine hissed, overheated and them promptly exploded. _28 points._

"there should be a better way to do this" he taught aloud, his eyes slowly gravitating towards the loaded Rocket-launcher he had liberated from the machine.

He smirked.

* * *

"Wait- Is that- Midoriya?" Asked Power-loader loader leaning in on her chair staring at the main screen

"what are you talking about- why would-" Midnight's eyes widened "Why is he there?"

"He is taking the test like all the others" Hummed Nozomi, her eyes sparkled when he picked up the rocket launcher "and he seems to have the right idea" she smirked, canines glinting in the dark observation room

Everyone got a small shiver up their spine

* * *

"AHAHAHAHAHA" Izuku laughed manically, there was a certain power he got from just watching the robots fall from the explosions he caused.

He _understood_ Kacchan now.

He had managed to hotwire the exposed cabling of the missile launcher, one hand holding the makeshift trigger while the other arm hauled the heavy ordinance.

He crossed the wires again, and instead of firing it clicked. _Damn. Empty._

Realization soon kicked in "oh hell- I lost track of my points" he hissed "what is it now 40-" A yelp directed his attention towards a sparkly woman- apparently having trouble with another 3 pointer. Not hesitating he flung the empty rocket launcher towards the robot, catching it in the head.

The machine losing its main control system crumbled and fell to the ground motionless.

"you and I make a good team oui?" asked the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, whom he had just saved. Something just felt off about her though- _maybe it's the weird smile?_

"I suppose that was a good bait- you alright though?"

"oui just a stomach ache- when I use my quirk too much my stomach might collapse" _Or maybe it was just the French_

"I-I see" he just didn't know how to respond to this woman

"with that I must bid you adieu"

_Aaaaand she ran off- guess this is my life now_

He turned back to the machines exposed neck

_Oh? Now what do we have here?_

* * *

"I- Is that even allowed?" Asked Vlad, staring at Izuku perched on a 3-pointer rolling through the exam grounds with ease, making the now tamed machine shoot down its own brethren.

"did he remove the speed limiter on it- how?" mumbled Power loader under her breath

"It's the most logical way to do it" Aizawa hummed a smile forming on her face

"It's the most fun way to do it" Nozomi added nodding

* * *

The machine petered to a stop "wow overclocking the engine really sapped the battery eh?" he huffed jumping off "I should have more than enough points to pass now-"

"I should also probably stop talking to myself" he chided himself in embarrassment. _Wonder how the entrance girl is doing_

His eyes caught robots floating to the sky slowly, then plummet back down.

_That answers that question_

He felt the ground rumble

"3 MINUTES REMAIN"

* * *

"Its time- let loose the 0 pointers" Nozomi cheered pressing the big red button on her control panel

* * *

A large hand shot out from the ground, grasping at one of the buildings then pulling the rest of its massive body up, steam hissed, and hydraulics churned as the machine rose up from the ground.

A 0 pointer had arrived to the scene

Present mic's mouth dropped open. "this wasn't in the playlist"

She knows what type of robot had been assigned as 0 pointer in these tests.

This wasn't that type.

She looked to the other test centers as three mechanical spider legs tipped with threads slam onto the ground of the test center, causing the whole city to rumble and some buildings to start collapsing.

Everywhere else had the supposed 0 pointer, not this.

She quickly called the observation deck

"Nozomi why do we have a 4th year level 0 pointer here?" she asked voice wavering

* * *

Izuku looked up at the colossal beast of steel and iron. Large shoulders attached to a wide chest and that attached to a heavy-duty waist; connected to 3 large legs which held it up. It roared to life, all the lights on its angular head blinking into existence

"Isn't that a bit-"

* * *

"OVERKILL?" screamed the proctors in union

"Nah its fine" Nozomi stated, All Might started sweating next to her

"Nozomi- that" Power loader started holding her helmet in fear "that thing doesn't have the necessary parameters"

"I don't see the problem"

"It won't know when to stop- It's not programmed to stop- It will kill these children"

All might started to sweat even more

"oh"

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OH?" Hissed Present mic to her phone

"targets sighted- commencing attack" rumbled the goliath, two Gatling cannons rose up from its back, firing a scattershot of lasers that hit buildings nearby the testers.

"HOW IS THIS EVEN FAIR" screamed Izuku dodging nearby rubble falling towards him. _That wasn't actually close to anywhere vital, thank god_

"OW"

he knew that voice- and started dashing towards the source-

He could see the brunette from the entrance through a window, her leg pinned under a big piece of rubble

"Enemy crippled- going in for finisher" echoed the machine

His eyes widened and picked up his pace. _That doesn't mean what I think it does right?_

The interrupter saw him starting to dash _through_ a wall towards- _the 0 pointer? Wh-_

Suddenly the machine Blurred over the pinned girl, hand raised ready to punch the ground. Ready to leave red paste where she was

"Oh n-"

* * *

"NOZOMI THAT'S GONNA KILL THAT GIRL- TURN IT OFF OR I'LL ENGAGE" screamed Present mic from the intercom

"Stand down mic." The rodent said simply.

"LIKE HELL- I DIDN'T SIGN UP TO WATCH HERO PROSPECTS GET KILLED BY OUR TES-"

"It's too late now anyway- just watch," Nozomi said voice monotone and steady, all other proctors looked ready to just say fuck it and run to the test area

"Oh FUCK _THAT_ IM GETTING IN RIGHT-" the punch started to fall, no way she was making it now. They all heard Mic flinch over the intercom.

The fist stated to fall, blurring on screen.

The teachers gasped

A green mop of hair dashed in the last second before impact.

A dust cloud covered the camera as the fist hit the ground.

The observation deck fell silent.

"what in Tarnation" muttered Snipe

* * *

He grunted under the pressure-his joints creaking in protest

"w-wha-" The girl muttered cracking her eyes open.

This didn't feel like death.

Her eyes landed on Izuku.

"y-you" she mumbled not really believing what she was seeing

He was holding up the giant fist. She could hear the machine groaning in effort to push down harder

"I made it" he grunted

* * *

Most of the teachers were awestruck at the observation deck; All might was smiling proudly.

_That's my boy_

* * *

The interrupter babbled watching the machine _struggle?_ "what is going on there"

* * *

He felt his body start to give in, the fist inching forward. He engaged One for All pushing the fist back up, green lightning sparking across his left arm back and legs.

_Any more and I might trigger full-body and collapse._

_But I can't just hold this forever either._

"Can you move?" he called out to the girl. Not looking back.

She mumbled a sorry.

"…fuck"

* * *

All might's smile faltered.

"H- he cant- He cant do that any longer can he?" mumbled Midnight- worry overcoming her.

"He got himself into that mess and he needs to get himself out" Huffed Aizawa. Trying to hide her own anxiety over the whole mess

"Let's see if he can" chimed Nozomi, the only one enjoying this

* * *

He felt the gears in the robot start to skip. _Maybe I can outlast i-_

_Wait feel?_

He forced the neurons in his hands into over-drive again.

Normally his bio-sonar could only detect so far. But the machine vibrating with effort was basically mapping it out for him.

He started to smile

This thing had nothing on Mei's designs.

* * *

"did he just accept death or is he putting a brave face on?" mumbled Snipe, starting to get into denial about all of this. _Just one of Nozomi's mind games, right?_

On the screen Izuku exclaimed "THERE" and punched with his right arm, onto what looked like a random spot, then another and another.

"or he just went insane" she continued staring at the screen. Definitely one of Nozomi's mind games.

"wait-" Power loaders eyes widened

"Holy shit" she mumbled in recognition

* * *

The metal groaned under his bloodied fist. _No time to stop. A few more to go._

He could feel the endo-skeleton of the machine start to creak from localized attacks he was giving. _Only a few more and…_

He heard a crack

"Its over now _fucker"_

He pushed hard with his left raising the fist in a last hurrah. He poured all of One for All into his right arm

_Local-Environ_ his mind echoed for a second, his muscles bulging, ripping his shirt off in the process.

And he punched upwards.

The stress marks he had beaten into the skeleton of the machine _sheared._

The massive arm shot up like a missile above the titan's head; Its internal batteries and engines compromised.

It sparked. and promptly exploded mid-air, taking the machine's head along with it

* * *

The Proctors stared at the screen in shock. Some gabbed their heads trying to comprehend what _just_ happened.

Then they all started screaming in celebration of it all.

A man had just beaten a 4th gen 0 pointer.

* * *

"I- did it" he huffed as the machine slumped to its side, grinding against buildings and falling to the ground.

His arm had popped out of its socket but that was nothing- he could still stand. He managed to stagger his way to the rubble pinning the woman's leg down, gripping it with his left and pushing-

_Oh- there goes my internal organs_

His vision blurred, and he dropped forward.


	9. Lovers and madman

Panicking she lifted her hands before he crashed down on her. Her pads connected with his skin, and he started floating right above her

"Times up" came the ever-present voice of Present mic, she seemed out of it

All the test takers in area B were.

* * *

"I am gonna skin Nozomi and wear her fur as my winter coat" hissed Recovery girl, kissing yet another hurt applicant, damage from falling debris, minimal. She had finally made it to the middle of the area, all the other testers had scattered to the outcrops, leaving the main clearing, Where He had made his stand, empty.

"now that wasn't a scene I expected to see" she huffed looking at the floating form of Midoriya. Hovering above a girl that seemed to have a quirk that changed her skin color.

_Or was it blushing? No matter_

She poked at him with her cane, causing him to drift to the side of the girl, closer to the ground "you can drop him, young'un- It is your quirk, right?"

"Right" she mumbled, clapping her hands and re-engaging gravity on him

"Aight open up" she huffed, dropping a few gummies down Midoriya's mouth

"I-isn't that dangerous? Couldn't he choke on those?" she asked still worried about the health of the guy who had saved her

"he'll be fine- now let me get your leg checked out- can you lift the boulder off you?"

She nodded

* * *

He woke up groggily,

"did anyone get the number of that truck that hit me?" he mumbled eyes slowly focusing on- a face of an angel sitting up next to him?

_Oh god I actually died- sorry mom, All might_

Ochako stared staring at him with shocked eyes, _how did he get back up already, Recovery girl didn't even kiss him yet._

Then the rest of his memories came back, along with the pain of his dislocated shoulder "oh- right test-"

"watch out for overexerting yourself like that" Recovery girl huffed "your body doesn't have unlimited energy to keep up with your will you know?"

"I- I know that" he huffed grimacing at his soreness _Lets see if this works._

He gasped and held his right shoulder in his left hand and took over fine control of his right deltoid and right pectoral. Causing the muscles to twitch and contract at the right angles to snap the misaligned joint into place with a loud pop

"Ow," he hissed, rolling the shoulder in an effort to dispel the ache and pain caused from the whole operation. When the pain started to fade he noticed it

"where is my shirt?"

The girl from the entrance blushed harder

* * *

The testing was done, and the applicants sent back home. And the teachers reconvened in the observation deck. Present mic was the last to arrive.

"Nozomi I will have your head for this- that was too reckl-" Present mic was cut off by the rodent-bear-thing

"No, it wasn't- there was no danger to the students' lives" The rodent started, eyes squinting when the voice hero looked like she was gonna add something to it

"before you start, do you think I, with my quirk, high spec, would overlook something like parameters on a mech?" she hissed "I might not be able to Create AI like Power loader, but I sure do know how to adjust parameters to fit it into a beginner level"

"but- why?" came the unanimous question from all the proctors, sans Aizawa

"this was testing us wasn't it?- to see if we could be unbiased while grading?" Aizawa accused

"yeah but that's thrown out the window- Midoriya surpassed even my highest expectations- I was thinking he was just going to grab her and get out-" Nozomi huffed miffed that her plans were thrown asunder

"Damn right he did-" Power loader hummed "did you show him the blueprints of the 4th gen? He knew where to punch to compromise the skeleton"

"he wasn't just punching randomly?" Vlad gaped, Midnight messed with a remote pulling the video of him starting to punch the mech

"look at his eyes, he knew where to punch" Midnight looked

"stop getting lost in his eyes" Snipe teased softly, midnight glared back

"doesn't change that he went in over his head" Aizawa huffed

_That's what Heroes do Aizawa_ All might thought

"so" Snipe bumbled "what grade do we even give him? Cause I am giving him a ten outta ten"

" any less would be lying- I mean look at the kid." Vlad huffed gesturing towards the recording

Mic was seeing the whole incident for the first time and the moment he had punched the arm off she screamed out a yeah

"Yamada I will use your vocal cords as dental floss" hissed Aizawa

"sorry couldn't help it-" she muttered

Nozomi nodded "Cementoss, Ectoplasm what do you two think?" they were the control group as they didn't really have contact with Midoriya up to that point.

"I mean" Cementos started, voice heavy and full "I cannot give anything other than full points to a spectacle like that- what he did was true heroism, through and through"

Ectoplasm nodded "isn't his drive the reason you hired him to begin with? I mean" she looked at the rest of the teachers "he even managed to get under Eraser's skin considering her initial reaction- he has the charisma to be the next number one. And with that attack-" she gestured at the moment his fist made contact with the mechanical beast "he shows that he has the power to back it up too, even without a quirk"

All might's eyes widened _without a quirk?_ She looked at Nozomi, whose eyes just screamed 'do not ruin this for me'

She didn't even know how her animalistic eyes managed to convey that

Nozomi nodded "guess didn't need to test you all after all"

"why did you even test them?" All might spoke up; sweating a little. She wasn't part of the jury so she had kept her mouth shut for all of the discussion up to this.

Nozomi looked her dead in the eye

"dunno"

"I don't believe that"

* * *

He rolled his right shoulder again. Riding the metro back to his home. He would have gone to Mei's workshop, but she had basically kicked him out last week till they both got their acceptances. _something about bad luck seeing his face before it was said and done?_

His green eyes caught brown ones

"Oh-" they both muttered looking at each other

"Thank you for the save," they both said at the same time

He smiled, and she looked lost

"bu- I didn't save you though?" she mumbled softly

"yeah you did, at the entrance remember?" he beamed. She had to look away, he was just too bright at the moment

"but you- you already had that covered…" she mumbled

"It's the thought that counts," he said.

More people exited the cabin, it was now just the two of them.

"what's your stop?" he asked trying to break the awkward silence

"the next one" she mumbled

"Really?" he asked, "that's mine too- where do you live?"

She gulped "uh- staying at one of the newer buildings- till- uh- If I get accepted to UA"

"Oh you will get accepted no worries," he said his voice not even having an ounce of doubt. "wait" he hummed, "you said the building was newly built right? Does it have gas?"

She shook her head- it was her moms latest construction project, and since she was basically squatting there for a few days at most they hadn't set up the natural gas.

"oh-" _my mom would kill me if I just let her go back home without a proper home-cooked meal after that test_

"Wanna swing by my home? Have something to eat?"

She looked at him like he had grown a second head

"I- I mean if you are offering…"

She wasn't one to refuse free meals

* * *

"oh my god" muttered Inko under her breath when she opened to door, looking at Izuku and a young woman the same age as him, looking around shyly.

"oh my god," she muttered again. Causing the mysterious woman to look distressed

"Hey mom- uh- I met her at the exam" her son muttered looking kinda worried his companion was about to bolt

"sorry for the intrusion" she mumbled in a small voice.

Inko's maternal senses flared "oh its none at all get in, get in" she said, inviting them in with her hand "sorry for staring, I'm just not used to Izuku inviting friends over" _well any his own age- not since her_

"s-sorry for coming uninvited" she mumbled following his mom, shocked by the sudden maternal aura filling the small house. She stepped out of her shoes and walked behind Inko into the main hallway, Izuku hanging behind and giving her some breathing space.

Her eyes landed on an All might themed nameplate. Her muted bubbliness rose throughout her and couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

It sounded beautiful to both Midoriya's

* * *

"so your favorite hero is Thirteen?" Izuku breathed after swallowing his bite.

"Yeah," she hummed.

Seeing the nameplate on the door had made him somehow more approachable. It reminded her of the one she used to have, one stylized like a widened-out spacesuit helmet. Suddenly he turned from this unapproachable being that was nigh a legend, a 'man', to just another person. A very attractive person with firm muscle- _no bad Ochako_

"She was the one with the space suit, right?" Inko hummed from her side. Having her around also somehow helped; having another woman interact with him and provide a reference calmed her even more.

"Yeah, it helps her use her quirk 'Blackhole' effectively," she said chipperly then got embarrassed a bit "s-sorry I am gushing"

Inko chuckled "sweetie you should see Izuku, he can- and has- filled books about other people's quirks- I am used to it"

Izuku had dropped his chopsticks and was hiding his head in his arms in embarrassment "mooooom"

_Oh no he is adorable _She blushed a bit

"What, they are amazing hun- come on bring one of them out"

He was about decline- or at least that's what she thought seeing his expression, but then his eyes caught his mothers' pout and he nodded softly getting up to grab the book

"remember, he has a weak spot for puppy-dog eyes" Inko whispered when he entered his room, out of their earshot

"eh?" Ochako mumbled

"when you want him to do something he is unsure of just hit him with the good old puppy- eyes" she clarified "works like a charm" she gave the girl a thumbs up

"oh"

Ochako will remember this

"I got one" Izuku huffed bringing out his notebook 'Heroics for the future: Hero analysis #20' he passed the book to his mother

"Oh?" she questioned flipping through the pages.

Ochako's eyes widened "Is that-"

Inko smiled and passed the book to the girl. Izuku on the other side of the table blushing madly and looking away.

She gazed at the pictures of thirteen, analysis of her powers and how she had used it in different situations.

Through analysis was one thing, what Izuku did was something else, 'through' didn't even get close to describing how much data was written down on the 7 pages he had given the space hero

"she is one of my favorites too" he mumbled looking to the side, scratching his cheek

"I always liked rescue heroes"

* * *

He was walking her back home after the dinner. A quiet engulfed them, but not uncomfortable like in the metro.

"Still can't believe you managed to eat that much" she mumbled absentmindedly

He chuckled shyly "my quirk kinda burns through nutrients and calories like kindling"

"yeah- what is your quirk?"

He looked at her in shock then realized that he had slipped it out. She flinched at that

Looking around and making sure no one was around he let out a sigh of relief

"it's supposed to be a secret-" he huffed _then again, she was in close quarters when he had let it loose_

She looked at him like a confused puppy

"Uh so-" he walked a little closer "this stays between us ok?" he asked, she nodded lightly, trying to ignore her pitter-pattering heart

"It's called Total Command- it lets me control everything about my body, like overclocking my muscles and metabolism to punch like I did during the test" he whispered

"Woah that's an amazing quirk" she mumbled back

"…so what's yours?" he asked after a few seconds of silence

"why gonna make a page about me?" she teased- _wait would he actually?_\- she started blushing

"definitely!" he said chipperly making her blush even harder

This boy was gonna kill her

"O'lookitsmyhomeseey'later" she rapid-fired accent slipping back to her Kansai dialect, running up to the building and through the lobby

"good night?" he called out, shocked by the sudden dialect change, _but it's cute..._

"…crap I didn't get her name"

* * *

His phone ringed two days later, Saturday morning.

"Midoriya" came a squeaky voice

"yes principal Nozomi?"

"you got accepted"

"I-" he fell down to his seat in shock _YES _his mind screamed

"shouldn't this go through more official means?" his other rational side asked, overpowering the fanboy side momentarily

"Yeah, yeah the letter is on its way with your 'official' grade, but you are still employed, and We need extra hands moving some supplies to the dorms, so bring your stuff and get over here"

"Ok Principal," he said and ended the call

Then he slammed his head to his pillow and screamed

* * *

"This is the dorm?" he asked looking at the building, suitcases behind him. _that was definitely not there the last time_

"Yeah, it is " someone with a deep voice said, smacking her hands together to get the dust off them, his gaze landed on the geometric head of the source, a being of harsh corners as opposed to the curves he was used to, yet still discerningly feminine with her slimmer waist and larger thighs. Kei Ishiyama, otherwise known as Cementoss. "just rebuilt it"

"you rebuilt it? Was it destroyed?"

She nodded "Since we didn't have a 1A last year Nozomi asked it to be knocked down, a little dramatic if you ask me."

_Missing 1-A again…_

"Aizawa expelled all of them" Cementoss answered his unwillingly mumbled question "you should probably stop mumbling"

_God. Dammit._

"working on it sorry-" he breathed "so uh- where is my room?"

Suddenly, something became very real to him. She had called this 1 A's dorm, newly rebuilt.

It was one connected building

….

_Oh no_

"you are on the 3rd floor, room 303" Cementoss grunted "the first floor is the common area, baths and washing machines main kitchen, the rest are living quarters"

He looked back at the complex

Cementoss huffed "look it wasn't my decision to not separate you from the rest- but that would have opened a rift between you and the rest of your classmates no?-"

"...Nozomi ordered for this didn't she?"

Cementoss nodded sheepishly

"Thank you for your work" he mumbled out and started walking towards the building absentmindedly

By the time he entered the main gates he just accepted his fate

_Living with 19 girls?- after hanging out with Hatsume And Kayama that doesn't sound so bad_

_Oh god Kacchan is gonna be here_

He hoped to god she wouldn't be

_Wait Nozomi oversees selecting the ledgers for the classes, she would see that she went to the same high school and middle school as me_

_FUCK_

The elevator doors opened as He was mentally screaming. He was at his floor. He hadn't even registered that he walked through the common room

"I'll just focus on it next time" he huffed to himself and walked to the door labeled 303, it was unlocked.

"holy shit" he muttered looking at the room. It was almost the size of his old bedroom combined with the living room of his house. A large blank king-sized bed against a wall opposite to a large desk and a comfy looking office chair. A closet the size of the kitchen on the other one, and a decently sized bathroom.

"I guess when you have a person that can summon buildings you can afford to get this big" he mumbled pushing his suitcases in and starting to unpack

* * *

"there" he exclaimed, having unpacked, the walls of his room were now adorned with pictures of multiple heroes, figurines at the large desk with his drawing utensils and sketchbooks to the side.

"…maybe shouldn't have gone so hard on the merch" he chuckled meekly to himself

His phone pinged

'Nozomi- If you have moved in relax for a bit, shipment caught in traffic might be 4 hours late'

"4 hours?" he mumbled

"Guess I can take a nap"

Setting his alarm up for 2 hours he let his head hit the soft pillow of the bed, the soft material lulling him into a deep slumber.

* * *

He woke up to his beeping phone, rolled over and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling. It was gonna take a while to get used to

He went down with his toiletries in hand to use the showers in peace before it got hectic, he had 2 more hours before the shipment arrived. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the common room was huge, decked out with couches that looked comfortable to sleep in or just hang out. And he thanked the heavens- or just Cementoss he wasn't sure yet- that the showers were separated into genders.

He enjoyed his shower, then got back up and changed. Deciding to hang out in the common room till the shipment arrived, flicking through the giant TV.

An hour later a mature and sophisticated voice chimed at the doorway of the dorm, just as he was making tea. "Is this 1-A's dorm?"

"Yeah," said back, putting the kettle back to simmer a bit more.

"Oh?" the owner of the voice walked in, curious about the more masculine voice "W-who are you?" she asked when her eyes caught him in the kitchen area of the Dorm

"oh- I'm Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you- uhm" he looked slightly away, the owner of the voice was beautiful. Only slightly shorter than himself, with long black hair, tied in a spiky ponytail. The way she carried herself was formal, telling of her possibly impressive family background, her grey eyes had a curious glint to them as she looked at the man in the kitchen. She had a healthy bit of fat on her from what he could tell- and was not having the easiest time looking away from her. Uhm. assets.

"oh- my name is Yaoyorozu Momo, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," She said smiling politely

_I am fucking dead, I will die If this is the standard at UA_

"Uh- were you the one with the shipment?" he asked trying to keep himself calm

"Oh- Oh yeah that's us, sorry for the wait, the limo had trouble following the truck, are you the uh-" she blushed a bit "they called you 'the help'?" she didn't feel comfortable calling him that but oh well

"That's-" he sweatdropped "that's me alright" _they really hadn't thought of a better name to describe my job?_ "want some tea while I unload your stuff?" he offered

"I'd love some," she said walking towards the counter

* * *

Momo had panicked, she wasn't expecting to see a man in all of this- but she managed to hide her anxiety. Well- he looked like he didn't notice it anyway.

It's not that she hadn't seen a man before, her father was married to her mom, after all, one of the few 'complete' families in this world. It's just that she didn't know they could get so _big_.

UA certainly was going to teach her a lot

She took a sip of the tea he had brewed. Nothing like the stuff she usually drank. But not bad at all.

She watched him start bringing the boxes from the cargo truck her parents had hired for her move-in

"which room are you?" he called out laying the first batch down

"room 302," she said, taking another sip of the tea "you brew some good tea" she hummed in thanks

He smiled softly at that picking up the boxes "I'll brew more during the semester if you like it" she flinched

"wait- what do you mean?" she mumbled placing the cup back to its plate

"Uh- that I'll brew more?" he said then cringed "Oh right- I am going to be a student here too"

She nodded absentmindedly. And took another sip. Watching him lift unnatural amounts of boxes with ease and call for the elevator with his elbow.

His announcement only sank in moments later he entered the elevator and went up.

_Ok- calm down Momo, He's nice, he makes good tea- you lived with your father for years, you can get used to living under the same roof with another man. _She rationalized and nodded to herself. No big deal.

He came back down, and out the door, she watched him go. Biting her thumb the moment he left her eyesight.

_No I cant- he is too much different than father- I can't- _she tried calming herself by taking another sip of his tea

She watched him run back in, open the sliding doors to the porch and run back out

_What is he doing?_

Her thoughts were answered when he came back, carrying her large bed-frame with ease.

she did a spit-take

worry overcame him when he saw her sputtering in the kitchen, he gently laid the bed down and came up to her "Yaoyorozu, you alright? Is it the tea?" he asked, panic in his voice

"n-no it's just- didn't know men could do _that_" she said, coughing a little.

He quickly reached the cabinets and pulled out a wad of paper towels, and a napkin, cleaning up her mess and passing her the napkin for her face. She mumbled out a small thanks

"I am an outlier" he admitted, cleaning up the tea off the counter "trained a lot to get in-"

"then again you probably did too right?"

She was silent for a second. Did she even deserve to be here? They hadn't even tested her with the rest of the recommended students, just accepted her out of her proficiency with her, admittedly versatile, quirk.

Did she even deserve to stand in the same room as a man that probably put blood sweat and tears into his training?

"Y-Yeah" she mumbled.

his hands stopped.

she flinched.

he knew that tone. That was the tone he had to hide for 14 years.

"don't" he softly said, softer than she could imagine his voice being "Don't doubt yourself" he repeated.

His emerald eyes locked onto her grey ones and She saw the raging inferno in them, not hot and dangerous, warm and compassionate.

It took her breath away.

"If you got here, you deserve to be here- don't let your own doubt say otherwise" the inferno grew larger in him, and she could finally breathe again as he looked away, his grip tightening around the counter

"If you listen to that voice you'll only go around in circles" he hummed voice getting quieter

"so let's do our best together this semester, alright Yaoyorozu?" he finally said turning and smiling at her knocking her breath out once again

She nodded softly, her insecurity silenced for now.

Apparently, that was enough for him. He nodded back and walked back to the frame, picking it up again and walking to the stairs. It wouldn't fit the elevator.

_…just like one of my romance books _she thought, replaying the interaction they just had; a blush blossoming on her cheeks.

_…Oh no_


	10. World is suddener than we fancy it

He was done faster than she had expected, and Momo had said a small thank you shutting herself in her room soon after that, still flustered by the connotations of her latest train of thought.

She couldn't help imagining all the romantic stories she had read as a kid, ones depicting the older days where romance bloomed between men and women. Something her generation didn't even get to see any more let alone experience it.

But all of those thoughts were unfit for an academic environment. Not like he would even… want that.

right?

She is just pushing her old childish dreams onto him and the real world.

"stop overthinking" she hissed at herself leaning on her door, deciding to start to unpack to clear her head.

* * *

He was back at the common room, waiting. Nozomi had messaged him about a secondary move in. and he apparently had more work to do than moving a bed upstairs this time.

A girl walked in unannounced, two-tone hair flowing behind her as she did so "I was told there was someone to help with the move-in?" her hair was white and red, parted right at the middle

"that would be me" he said, getting up and walking towards the girl. Her hair was down to her hips, body rugged but still undeniably attractive. Her eyes were heterochromatic, just like her hair, left an icy blue, right a steely grey.

They looked off.

And it wasn't due to the damage done to her left side.

She looked like she was staring through him rather at him, not even registering his presence in a meaningful way. It was a surprising change to the normal reactions he got to say the least.

"ok my stuff is outside, I'll be at my room 305" she said, voice icy. She then promptly moved upstairs

He moved out seeing a pile of… Tatami?

First, a woman that he could relate with self-confidence issues and now one that looked to have walled herself off from the planet. Both on his floor, both his neighbors.

_Nozomi what are you planning?_

* * *

To her credit by the time he had hauled all of the materials upstairs the girl had managed to strip the room of its flooring. Singed floorboards littered the hallway in front of her room.

"Sorry I'll clean it up after" she mumbled still no emotion in her voice. She looked out of breath and the look in her eyes was slightly strained

_Maybe using her quirk hurts her emotionally?_

"It's fine I got it" he hummed, dropping the new flooring to the floor and picking up the old floorboards, pushing them to the side.

She was about to pull the stuff in and start constructing that he coughed finally getting some of her attention.

"I- I kinda got some experience in building stuff and construction" he mumbled rubbing the back of his head "I can help you re-floor this place- if you want it"

She looked at him- really looked at him once. It wasn't pity nor was it patronization that came out of his mouth. Just an offer of help from one person to another. Her 'mother' hadn't ever said something like that to her, nor did she allow anyone else to.

"sure," she said, opening the door a little wider for him to get in too.

Anything Endeavor said; she would do all in her power to do the opposite.

Including accepting help.

* * *

She had to admit, having someone that actually knew a little about tatami instillation actually helped, and they were done in an hour. "thank you-" she hesitated for a second _I never got his name- didn't even ask it did I- _

"Midoriya Izuku" he said, seemingly not hurt by the late introduction

"Thank you Midoriya" she said stoically, but the sheer cold of her voice was gone

"We students need to help out each-other, shouldn't we?"

She didn't agree with that. She wasn't here to make friends.

_…but that's the way she thinks_

She nodded after a little deliberation.

He was kinda confused why she kept stopping and staring for a while. But didn't speak up about it.

_Move out day is usually hard for people- and she is probably getting lost in thought _he concluded.

"well see you later" he hummed stepping out of the newly refurbished room.

She didn't respond

* * *

It was 2 pm. And he was getting kinda hungry,

"time to see how the kitchen works" he hummed to himself, walking out of his room to the kitchen area to find it looking like a warzone.

With Momo in the middle of it whimpering softly

"I- I just tried making rice"

_Oh_

"L-lets clean this up Yaoyorozu, I'll cook some food for us all" he said walking through spilled water and rice, trying to calm her down slightly. Raising his hand for her to hold.

Still slightly dazed by the mess she had just made she nodded and grabbed his hand, letting him lead her to the couch and give her a towel to wipe off all the water on her.

_How did she get it all over her?_

"Can you make soba?" both of them flinched

_When did she get here?_

"Uh- sure? What do you want Yaoyorozu?" he asked getting up and out of her space now that she seemed a little calmer

"Anything really-" she mumbled "I'll have soba too"

He Nodded and looked to the kitchen "I am no lunch-rush, but I'll cook up something good"

* * *

Somewhere Inko sneezed

_Oh my child is becoming a man_

* * *

"I think we haven't met yet" Momo said, eyes dragging from the cooking form of Izuku to the mystery girl that just kinda… appeared?

"Shoko" she said simply

"Shoko?" Momo asked head tilting to the side

"Call me Shoko" she repeated

"Nice to meet you Shoko, my name is Yaoyorozu Momo" she introduced herself with trained elegance

She nodded eyes still slightly glazed as she watched Izuku cook

_Soba…_

* * *

_Wait… If all women have quirks- and All might was given One for All- shouldn't that mean she has another quirk? _Izuku thought suddenly while cooking the soba, head shooting up as the thought passed his head.

He had zoned out. He didn't even know how that thought made its way into his head.

_Questions for another time_

he drained the noodles in cold water, ready to serve. Seeing that the kitchen and the counter was still unclean due to Momo's little accident he brought the noodles to coffee table of the common room.

Shoko dug in immediately.

He and Momo looked at her for a second

_Guess she likes her soba_

Saying a small thank you to him Momo followed suit, enjoying the flavor of the noodles.

She could get used to this.

He tasted the noodles. _Not bad_

* * *

After the meal, and the clean-up ,thankfully Momo had helped him out with that, he moved back to his room

'Don't I have anything else to do' he texted Nozomi

The reply was instantaneous

'Nope, the only reason you were here was to help the recommended students move in, the teachers are too busy preparing for the introduction ceremony to relax and need your help'

_then why did you reply to me so fast?_

He placed his phone on his All might themed charging pad. Rolling to his side.

The girls he had met today were eccentric- but lovable as hell.

He blushed.

He had too many girls like that in his life.

"what am I going to do?"

* * *

He woke up with a start, looking at the time

6 pm

He had slept through another 3 hours.

He groggily walked down to the common room

The heterochromatic girl was there, eating some of the Soba he had put in the fridge to eat later.

Their gazes locked

She continued slurping the noodles without breaking eye contact

"I can make more later" he mumbled groggily

She nodded slowly, still slurping

"have you seen Yaoyorozu?" he asked, before she could answer Momo walked out from behind the fridge

"right here- you alright Midoriya?" worry in her eyes

"Yeah" he rubbed his eyes trying to get the sleep outta them "just tired for some reason" he yawned

"well its probably the move in" she said.

He nodded "probably- how are you two?"

"Amazing" Shoko said swallowing all the noodles she had in her mouth _finally away from her_

"I-" Momo started "I am very excited about all of this, It's so new to me" she admitted getting a little embarrassed about admitting it

"Me too-" Izuku mumbled, "so what do you want for dinner?"

"Soba" Shoko said immediately

"Shoko No" Momo said, sounding slightly maternal

Shoko looked unaffected

* * *

"he seems to be getting along with them fine" Nozomi said looking at the common room feed

"why are we watching the new students interact again?" Aizawa huffed

"Cause they are your class, and He is a variable we had never dealt with" Nozomi answered simply

"Ok we both know that is bullshit" Aizawa deadpanned

Nozomi ate another popcorn kernel

"I don't know what you mean Eraser"

_This chaotic good shit is getting old_ she hissed in her head

* * *

The next day was the move in for the rest of the class. Izuku hadn't been ordered to help them, so he hadn't set up an alarm to wake himself up. Meaning that his recent narcolepsy caused him to oversleep.

A knock on the door woke him up.

He looked at the clock. Midday.

_What the fuck is going on with me right now?_

He questioned, getting up to check the door.

Not noticing that he had slept shirtless

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tooru asked her new, pink skinned friend, Mina. They had gotten along fast after learning they were room-neighbors

"Yeah! Don't you think everyone should meet in the common room?" Mina said with excitement, which was mirrored in her best friend from high school, Kirishima Eiko.

"YEAH!"

The door opened

"Hey, we were calling everyone to the common room to-"

All three of them stopped.

They were face to chest with-

"Yeah?" asked the owner of the chest, still slightly groggy

They all looked up to see his iridescent green hair and emerald eyes

"we-" Tooru babbled, Mina looked frozen and Eiko looked ready to die right there.

He looked down at the three, suddenly realization hit him and looked down to his own body. Blushing a deep red that made him look like a tomato

"Sorry-" he barked slamming the door and running in to change

Eiko shook Mina's shoulder "we- we just"

"oh my god it's a man" the pinkette mumbled still stunned

The redhead looked like she was having the time of her life "do you think he is like in those movies? Chivalrous and stuff?"

Tooru looked at her new friends _geeking out_ over the guy they just met

"wh- what are you on about?"

They both shared a glance

"how many old movies have you seen?"

* * *

When Izuku walked back out after finding a shirt and pants the trio was still on his doorway

"s-sorry about that- I hadn't woken up fully yet" he mumbled

"Its no problem" both the pink skinned girl and the redhead announced, eyes sparkling

He gazed at the duo, one muscular to a fault, chiseled to the point that her shoulders looked angular, with a small chest, with red spiky hair and red eyes.

The other pink-skinned and black sclera-d, irises a gold color. Her pink hair in a bushy mess similar to his own with yellow horns sticking out from the mop. She was less muscular with her body having a bit more mass around her chest and thighs.

_Why- why does it always have to be beautiful women? _

"Uh- nice to meet you, Midoriya Izuku" he introduced himself

"Kirishima Eiko," said the red-head, absolutely beaming.

"Ashido Mina," said the pinkette

"Hakagure Tooru," said the _Air?_

He did a double take, noticing the floating clothes now. And based on them another curvy, invisible, woman was standing next to Ashido

"s-sorry" he said looking at where he assumed her face was "didn't se-" he noticed the pun that was about to form and coughed in his hand dispelling it

"did you need me for something?"

All three nodded- well he thinks Tooru nodded, its hard to discern without seeing a head

"yeah we were collecting everyone for a dorm meeting- I think you are the last one" Mina said

"Dorm meeting?"

* * *

_Oh no_

His eyes landed on the crowd when the elevator doors opened 16 people looked at the doors as the elevator beeped announcing it had arrived

"YOU"

_OH NO_

Katsumi seethed and grabbed him by the collar, a hard thing to do when she was so much shorter than him. And pulled him down to her eye level.

"What are you doing here, Deku?"

"I- I got in just like you" he mumbled his brow sweating

The rest of the students started to panic

"Release him at once" exclaimed the interrupter from the orientation _she had got in too?_

"Midoriya" panicked Momo, not knowing what to do

"Bakugou please" Eiko mumbled stuck inside the elevator as the confrontation was blocking the doors

The machine started to beep as the doors were kept open for too long

"what a mad banquet of darkness" someone mumbled in the crowd

"hey- hey is that a guy?" whispered a small and squeaky voice

"A guy? How did he get in?" someone else mumbled

"wasn't he in our testing center?" asked a tall woman with multiple connected arms

"Y-yeah I think so? I remember seeing him dash in first"

"what are you two talking about" Katsumi hissed pushing Izuku back into the Elevator, it stopped beeping as its doors closed

"well that was something" Mina mumbled

"not the best first-day" Izuku admitted pressing the open door button

"wait you are going back out?" Tooru asked

"I need to explain things to her" he mumbled back, determination in his eyes

_Manly_ Eiko thought a fist over her heart

* * *

"So you are telling me that-" she pointed at Izuku who had just walked back into the common room "He, beat up enough villains to make it in?"

"Yes he did," said the glasses-wearing girl. A brown-haired girl was silent during all of this chaos

"Fucking. How. He is just Deku." She seethed

The girl shook her head "I was suspicious at first too- but seeing him in action for a glimpse- He has the body of a hero, even if he doesn't have a quirk, no?"

Katsumi flinched. She had forgotten how much He had changed. She gritted her teeth

"what do you know- who are you anyway?" she hissed

"Iida Tomoyo. A pleasure to meet you" said Tomoyo, reaching her hand out mechanically to shake hers

Katsumi didn't clasp her hand

"from the Iida family? Like Ingenium; Iida family?" he asked with stars in his eyes

Katsumi looked at Izuku, he had gone into hero nerd mode.

She huffed and walked off to her room.

"Yes that's the one," Tomoyo said, chest bubbling in pride "Also- sorry about my rudeness at the test area"

"It's really no pr-"

"wait" they all looked at the source of the voice. Someone short with purple balls forming twin-tails on their head. "are we just gonna"

she was drooling.

"Ignore that such a fine piece of-" she was cut off as a long tongue smacked the side of her face shutting her up.

A girl with large hands ribbited "I am Asui, please call me Tsuyu" she introduced herself

"ni-nice to meet you Asu-" he caught himself "I mean Tsuyu" she ribbited with happiness

He turned back to Tomoyo, eyes glancing over brown, de-gravitized hair

"Oh- sorry Iida can I have a moment?" he walked past Tomoyo to his target

"Told you you'd make it"

She blushed a bit "sorry for not stepping up"

He shook his head "Kacchan can get a little- intense; I understand, though she isn't that bad when you get to know her"

Someone snorted. "that I find hard to believe," said someone with dark purple hair and aux cords hanging in the underside of her ears, body slim and petite. "Kyoka Jirou," she said nodding towards him

"Hey! Midoriya wouldn't lie like that" Ochako defended her friend"-oh Ochako Uraraka"

Jirou nodded in greeting

"What's her deal with you anyway Deku?" the punk girl asked

He flinched a bit

"We were childhood friends- kinda had a falling out" He mumbled

Tomoyo was behind him "don't call him that- didn't you notice that was a derogatory nickname?"

Ochako was the one to be surprised "Eh? Didn't she call him Deku? As in Dekiuru? As in 'you can do it?"

Tomoyo looked at her stunned "I- no not with that tone of voice…" she mumbled and rubbed her chin in thought- _maybe?_

"you can call me that if you want," he said smiling "I got used to it- plus when you say it like that it sounds sweet"

Tomoyo looked at him stunned "Just like that?"

By that time Momo had managed to walk through the crowd up to them "Midoriya are you alright?"

He nodded "It takes a lot more than that to do me in" he chuckled trying to ease everyone that seemed to worry for him

"what do you mean by that- if you don't mind me asking" Tsuyu croaked, when did she get so close to the group?

"Uh-"

"He defeated a 0 pointer" Ochako said

Everyone stopped

"he what?" they all echoed

"he stopped a 0 pointer from crushing me, and punched its arm off- it was…" she trailed off

"THAT WAS HIM?" asked Jirou eyes widening, Momo looked around "what's a 0 pointer?"

"you mean to say- " Tsuyu ribbited "he punched the arm off of one of those building-sized robots?"

"building-sized?" everyone in test area B looked at Tsuyu

"well wasn't it big?" she croaked face still neutral

"yeah but- wasn't it more like a skyscraper?"

Everyone not in test area B looked confused

"wait- wait" someone with blonde hair, with a black lightning bolt on it, cut in "are we not talking about the giant machine with 2 tank legs that trudged around slowly and destroyed buildings in the area?"

"two legs?" Izuku looked at the girl

" what are you talking about- the 0 pointer had 3 legs and dashed around the area with ease?" Tomoyo mumbled getting more and more confused

"…" Momo looked up in thought "so they had a different 0 pointer in- uh test area B was it?"

"even if that's the case why would they-" Izuku stiffened realization hitting him

"goddammit Nozomi" he mumbled facepalming

"Midoriya?" They all looked at him

"It was me- they changed the test because I was in the test area" he mumbled

"why would they-" Tomoyo questioned

"Why would she- I am certain the principal did this- unsure if it was to force me to show off my quirk- or for something el-" he stopped

Everyone.

Stopped.

"your WHAT?" they all asked in unison, all except Uraraka

* * *

"that was fast" Nozomi mumbled looking at the screen

"which part, him admitting having a quirk or the girls deciphering we meddled with the test parameters?" Aizawa huffed in her sleeping bag, not paying attention to what was happening really

"both really" Nozomi chuckled eating more popcorn

* * *

He took a seat on a couch as all of his new classmates interrogated him "you have a quirk? I thought you were a- y'know" Eiko mumbled dejected out of her mind

The rest had similar looks of confusion on their faces, except Ochako who had seen and talked to his mom and knew nigh everything about him, Shoko who really didn't care And Momo who was certain he couldn't make that speech if he hadn't been truthful about being a guy

"I- I am a guy- its just apparently I have a quirk" He mumbled looking down

"that doesn't make sense males don't get quirks" Tomoyo said, looking somewhere between apologetic and mad as she realized she had assumed 'her' gender in the orientation, yet 'she' was still lying to them all

"Well I did- I don't know why or how I just did" he huffed, not looking back up

"only one way to prove you aren't lying" said the squeaky voice " show us your-" she was cut off by a tongue slapping her and a hand grabbing her over the head

She floated above everyone knocked out

"I would prefer if you didn't pester the guy that saved my life" Ochako said, smiling. her tone was different than usual, causing everyone to take a step back in fear

Seeing her he got even more apologetic, landing on his knees and getting into a dogeza

"I'm so sorry Uraraka- the mess you got in was all my fault- if I wasn't in the same testing area with you then you wouldn't have-"

"gotten hurt?" she finished for him "Deku, if you hadn't jumped in I would have died. You were the only one there that even attempted that- and from what it sounds like no one else would have done anything if a normal 0 pointer was the one that attacked me"

He still didn't look up

She crouched in front of him "hey chin up. What you did doesn't change. You still saved my life"

Everyone around felt like they were watching something that was supposed to be private

"I was the reason you were caught up in that anyway"

"Deku, did you ask me to enter the Exam?"

"no-"

"did you ask me to be in the same test area as you?"

"…no"

"did you ask the principal to change out the 0 pointers?"

"no"

"then how was any of this your fault?"

He didn't respond, she petted his head causing him to go weightless and float up

"h-hey"

"if you won't get up I'll force you up" she giggled

Momo looked at the scene with a pit in her stomach she couldn't explain. Uraraka and Midoriya looked so close.

Eiko was stunned- such manliness, holding up against a 0 pointer, then apologizing for it, _wow._

The rest dropped the topic after that, Uraraka releasing Izuku, who landed gracefully on the floor.

The grape-head, not so much.

* * *

The rest of the girls had dispersed to unpack the rest of their stuff, excluding the multi-armed Mai Shoji who had little to unpack and Shoko who already unpacked the day before, both preferred staying in their rooms instead of staying in the common room. Momo, on the other hand, had told him that she had to study.

Izuku, after seeing Jirou struggle carrying the multiple amplifiers, had offered to help her, which she took, and thanks to that they were one of the first to finish.

Now she was sitting by the counter of the kitchen, watching him cook.

"So Green" he looked at Jirou, away from the pan he was cooking in

"You have a quirk, You can cook, like helping people and You look like this?" she said gesturing to his body

"Yeah?" he asked flipping the steak on the pan, the ball-haired girl, Mineta Minerva, and Tsuyu walked out of the elevator

"Are you still single?" she asked teasingly

he coughed dropping the spatula "I- uh" he blushed deeply "yes?" he mumbled softly

"How?" she asked grin still teasing

"doesn't matter calling di-" Minerva was struck by a tongue again.

_Thanks Tsuyu_

"I- I was busy training to pass the entrance exam" he mumbled looking at the sizzling steak

"so now that's over you are on the prowl?" she asked leaning in a bit, enjoying how red he was getting

"why are you asking me these things Jirou?" he asked back trying to change topics

"she might be interested" Tsuyu croaked

It was Kyoka's turn to turn red "N-no I was just teasing him"

"Oh- well it looks like so many are already that I just assumed it was us all"

Izuku looked ready to go supernova

"w-what are you talking about Tsuyu-" he blustered

She looked at him with a blank expression "don't tell me you aren't seeing it"

He didn't respond, his brain was in full denial, and thanks to Total command, He stopped hearing the rest of the conversation as his ears shut down

* * *

"i-is he ignoring you?" Kyoka asked looking at the now catatonic Izuku, who was barely moving now and then to cook the steak on the pan

"I think so" Tsuyu croaked "don't know if his denial is cute or annoying"

"w-why are you so open about this?" Kyoka mumbled blushing a bit, it was definitely cute.

"I just say what comes to mind, can't help it" she ribbited "plus its not like you weren't obvious"

She blushed deeper "I wasn't interested"

"really Jirou?" she ribbited

"shut up" she said looking away

"Can you stop? Whipping me with your tongue?" Minerva hissed, coming out of her daze

"can you stop sexually harassing Midoriya?" Tsuyu asked

"Oh, like you two are any better" Minerva huffed

"I mean, my first words weren't 'show me your genitals'" Jirou defended herself

"no such thing shall be done in here" Tomoyo said walking into the room, she had finally placed all her glasses.

"oh here comes Mrs. Buzzkill" huffed Minerva

"Such words- they do not befit a hero candidate" Tomoyo said, waving her arms in chopping motions

"hush prude, the women are talking" Minerva snapped back

"shut the FUCK Up all of you" announced Katsumi walking to the room. She was hungry

"how vulgar" Tomoyo muttered as Katsumi shoved past them all onto the fridge

Izuku noticed her and his hearing returned "Oh Kacchan- here I made food, spicy like you like it" he passed her a plate with a large steak and some hot sauce with a side of rice.

She glared at him, then the plate

She clicked her tongue but took the plate, going back up the stairs

"not gonna lie I thought that was gonna spiral into a fight" Jirou mumbled, Tsuyu nodded along

"Midoriya, are you cooking for us all?" Tomoyo asked, he nodded

"worked under Lunch-rush for 5 months- I'm not as good as her but Its better than nothing right?"

All 4 girls looked at him

"r-right?" he asked again looking back at them

"you know you didn't have to right?" Tsuyu croaked, her index finger on her chin

"I- yeah I know I didn't _have _to- I just thought it might-"

"yeah no I'm definitely interested now" she hummed nodding

He tried to ignore the connotations

"So- uh Jirou how do you like your steak?" He said, hoping the conversation would move past this hurdle

"uh- medium well?" she said he nodded continuing to cook the latest one on the pan

"I like my meat raw" Minerva announced in a pervy tone

"desist, please" Tomoyo begged


	11. What is that you express in your eyes?

Minerva was thankfully shut down after Izuku gave her something to eat, her mother apparently teaching her proper table manners at least. The other 3 enjoying their own meals with idle chatter as Izuku continued to cook

"Deku?" he looked to the side catching Uraraka's eye "you are cooking? But we didn't even set up the chores yet?"

"Felt like doing it, plus it helps me clear my mind" he hummed "you liked your's medium right?"

"My steak?- Deku I-" she looked around rousing a curious glance from the small assembly downstairs "I never had that before" she mumbled in a soft tone.

He looked surprised, but didn't really change the look in his eyes "Oh- guess I'll be your first then"

Minerva choked on her meal- so did Kyoka. Tsuyu just croaked a bit. Tomoyo looked at them weirdly "was it something he said?" without a pervy tone to hint her the implications were lost on her.

It wasn't lost to Izuku however, causing him to blush hard enough for him to look nigh neon "I- I didn't mean it that way" Ochako was sporting a similar blush.

"Mean it what way?" Tomoyo asked, lost and confused.

Minerva coughed more, slamming on the table to steady herself.

"I- I know" Ochako mumbled trying to calm down.

Izuku nodded in acknowledgment and went back to cooking, trying his best to calm himself.

She joined the small group of meal-havers

* * *

The group and grown to encompass all the class soon after, except Bakugou who had come back down to leave her plate and went back up immediately.

Shoko was kinda vocal about preferring Soba but had come into terms with the meal after Momo insisted on eating a balanced diet, which was echoed by Tomoyo

"Sorry for just having steak girls, it was the fastest to prepare," Izuku said, taking his apron off and sitting down between Momo and Ochako after passing the last steak to Eiko; who was the last to arrive due to her setting up something in her room.

"Thank you for the meal" they replied in unison, Momo Assuring him that it was fine on his side. Ochako still blushing about the earlier implications.

"don't worry about it Midori" Ashido said, digging into her meal "It tastes amazing"

He looked down rubbing his head in embarrassment.

* * *

_Is he trying to woo them all?_ Aizawa thought, looking at the screen. Nozomi had stepped out to get some tea.

"….wait a minute" the interrogation before this went through her head, like she had heard something interesting.

"would have noticed it if it was important" she rationalized, turning on her sleeping bag and trying to get some more shut-eye.

* * *

After finishing his own meal, he bid his classmates a quick goodbye and headed out to talk with _her_

She needed an explanation.

"I like him" said Tsuyu moments after he left earshot, causing most to look at her with confusion

"Asui again with this?" Jirou asked

"what are you guys talking about?" asked Mai Shoji's hand-mouth, the girls were gonna have trouble adjusting to that.

"she wants to 'hop' him," Minerva said, casually

"-why are you so thirsty?" asked Doi Kaminari, being one of the crasser of the group

"Mating season" Tsuyu simply said eliciting 'ah's from the rest of the class

"wait- does that affect you too Tokoyami?" Doi asked

Fumiko's plumage ruffled in embarrassment. "Just because I have an aves' head doesn't mean I have the instincts of one," she huffed. Dark Shadow rose up from within her to say something, only to be silenced by Fumiko grasping the shadow beast's beak before any embarrassing stuff could be said.

"Aves?" asked Mina, trying the decipher the newly-resident bird-headed girl.

"The scientific name for a bird," Tomoyo said,

"It's their taxonomic class," Momo said at the same time.

Their eyes met. They nodded once at each other, exchanging approving looks.

The rest looked at the interaction with raised eyebrows, starting to get lost in it all.

_Is this what smart people talk like? _

* * *

"Will you please open the door?" He said waiting outside Katsumi's door

"No fuck off"

"I just want to talk"

"What Is there to talk about?"

"…"

"Just leave me alone Deku"

His head sagged, and he huffed. _What could I even say to her anyway? Its been too long since we had an actual conversation…_

Giving up, for now, he headed back to his own room. He needed more sleep.

He didn't have the mental clarity to question why.

* * *

He woke up refreshed.

He really wasn't sure why- but he did. Whatever was causing his need for extra sleep seemed to have subsided.

He checked his clock. _6 am._

_Well, it's not anything physical- not that I can see or feel the change._

He walked into his bathroom to check just to be sure, _yep no growth spurts_

He stared back to his reflection

"what are you doing?" he mumbled absentmindedly

* * *

Dressing up he left his room, hungry for breakfast

He found Minerva taped to the ceiling right above his door

"…Alright then" he mumbled softly, trying not to wake up the cocooned pervert. _More questions for later._

He waited patiently for the elevator, his nose catching the scent of something with vanilla and sugar?

Was someone making something?

When the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by a small group of early risers. Tomoyo, who was gonna train if her tracksuit was something to go by, Momo who was drinking tea and lightly nibbling on a piece of pancake, and- _Rieko Sato, was it?_

He was never properly introduced to the hulking female, whose muscles challenged Vlad's by their sheer volume, less refined than someone like Eiko, but that only exaggerated her strong-woman like qualities. She turned to face him as he got closer to the kitchen, as did the rest of the girls- _huh, she has large lips_

"Good morning Midoriya," Tomoyo said "good to see you are ready for the day"

He nodded in acknowledgment

"You got enough rest?" Momo asked, worry in her voice intended or not

"Yeah- I think my body adjusted to the dorms- or whatever it was having trouble dealing with," he said, walking behind the counter, only to be stopped by Rikku

"and where do you think you are going?"

"uh- to help you with cooking?"

"nuh-uh, you already made dinner last night, breakfast is on me."

He looked down at her, she was as tall as Momo- yet that was still shorter than him by 5 centimeters.

She looked like she was having fun cooking.

"I'll be here if you need help," he said finally, smiling slightly and sitting next to Momo.

"want some Tea?" she asked as he settled down, and passed him a cup after his nod.

"did you make this?" he asked after taking a sip, It tasted _divine_.

She blushed a bit at his awestruck expression "I- I can't cook but I was taught how to make tea" she mumbled looking away.

"A gap in home keeping skills is not fit for a hero, Yaoyorozu," Tomoyo said earnestly.

"I know…" She huffed looking down.

"I can teach you how to cook" Izuku offered, not liking the expression that Momo had gotten.

"I- I would like that" she mumbled looking back at him, her forlorn expression melting away.

The moment was broken when Rikku passed a plate full of pancakes to him.

He looked down on the portion size "how did you-"

"Know you eat that much?" Rikku smirked "bakers secret"

_….I can get used to this_

* * *

"ZUKU" he almost choked on his last pancake as the voice echoed through the common room, it was just him, Momo and Rikku.

"Hatsume?" He turned, the excitable ball of inventing slamming against him before he realized what was going on.

And considering he was on a stool, he couldn't brace for impact.

So he tripped backwards, onto Momo, Mei on his chest.

While the three of them fell, something triggered in him.

Before he knew it, he twisted with an arm around Mei, grabbed a hold of Momo and continued his spin in the air, landing on his back; letting his body take the brunt of the fall instead of the girls.

"that's new" he mumbled still dazed _Maybe that was what was off with me so far? My brain 'installing' new reflexes? _

Momo started blushing madly, Mei didn't even look fazed.

"You got in! I told you; you would!" he looked down at Mei, his eyes drifted towards Momo and he started panicking.

"S- sorry Yaoyorozu" he muttered. He was used to this with Mei, but- this was new.

"th-thank you for catching me" She mumbled back, and just dashed off.

"what's her problem?" Mei asked.

"what's with you tackling me constantly?" Izuku asked, hoping He hadn't touched anywhere sensitive on Momo during his maneuver to alter their fall.

"affection?" Mei just stated.

Rikkulooked down at the two "you two know each other?"

"Yeah he is my slave"

He froze.

Rikku nodded, then did a double take.

"didn't know you were that kinky Midoriya"

"I am not- she is just a friend"

Mei pouted inwardly.

She didn't know why but she did.

* * *

Momo slid down her door after closing it shut behind her.

"his hands were so gentle…"

* * *

Mei got off him, looked around and took a seat on the couch, patting it for him to follow. Rolling to his side and sighing he did so.

"Wanna hear how I got in?" she asked vibrating almost- he couldn't say no to that.

"sure"

"So yesterday they held the support class interviews, right?"

He nodded along.

"and there was this one, robot looking woman"

"Power Loader?" He asked, trying to get her to clarify.

"I am bad with names-" _Of course you are._

"uh, yellow helmet, looks like an excavator's scoop? Orange hair?"

"YEA THAT'S THE ONE-" she exclaimed and went on with her story "so she just asked me to get in the room and I did right?"

He nodded again.

"and then she asked me, 'What can you build?'" His brow started sweating- _she didn't did she?_

"and I went, 'Let my baby show you'" she giggled "and then our baby broke down the ceiling carrying my hover boots"

"Your WHAT, now?" somebody snarled

Both turned to see the source of the voice.

Katsumi.

"Kacch-" he was cut off by an explosion against his face, the shockwave sending him backwards onto the ground.

Mei, for the first time in her life;

panicked.

"Don't you Kacchan me" She seethed. Unrivaled rage building up inside her.

He got up slowly. _So this is what a concussion feels like. _His emerald eyes met her crimson ones.

He had thought he had seen Katsumi angry before, he was wrong.

"This explains everything- you probably slept with some of the teachers to get in didn't you Deku?" explosions were sparking off in her hands. This was the first time he felt like he was in genuine peril by her hands.

"He wouldn't- Im sorry I was talking about the robot we built together" Mei mumbled.

The explosions stopped.

His wobbly eyes landed on Mei. She looked scared- for him?

The explosions started again.

"What the hell are you talking about you whor-" She didn't get to finish that.

"**Katsumi.**" His voice was unsteady due to the concussion, but that only added more weight to it.

Katsumi flinched.

"**why would any of this concern you?**"

"…" she didn't have an answer to give to that, but her rage just grew. Then it broke.

Grumbling loudly, She walked past him, shoulder slamming him again, towards the training grounds.

She needed to blow up something.

Several things.

* * *

Izuku's shoulders slumped as she left.

"Hatsume are you Alright?" his voice was back to normal, the concussion had passed. Healing neural damage was apparently part of Total commands arsenal.

She didn't respond.

"Hatsume?"

"I'm sorry" she mumbled and ran out of the dorm.

"Hey! wait"

Izuku caught up to her just outside the dorms, grabbing her shoulder.

"why are you apologizing?" he asked, voice strained.

"y-you got hurt cause I didn't- cause how I-"

He looked at her dumbfounded.

"you built a robot to beat me up before how's this any-"

"Cause I was scared- I wasn't in control" she admitted looking down "you know how much I love the things I create, how much I trust them- they would never hurt you- not like she could have. And it was all because of me-"

Her shoulders were shaking.

"Me and my stupid mouth- I should just build and never spe-"

"Mei"

She stopped.

He had never used her first name before.

"Do you know what you are?"

"an inventor?" she sniffled voice small and frail.

"no, you are my best friend, who is the best inventor" His other hand landed on her shoulder.

She looked up to him, his heart sank at seeing her watery eyes. These tears were nothing like those she shed when he had gifted her the goggles he built, which were still on her head.

He pulled her into a hug. The first one _he_ had ever initiated with her.

Her hands wrapped around his back softly, none of the usual hyper-ness in her.

Feeling his warmth encompass her calmed her down.

"thank you Izuku" she mumbled.

* * *

"stupid bitch" Katsumi huffed exploding a training dummy.

"getting close with him- Bet they-" She stopped herself "no he doesn't have the balls to do that"

The image was getting in her head now, that pink haired bimbo pulling him to a corner and-

She clenched her teeth, hands sparked, and she released a massive explosion to the heavens.

_Why._

She let out another explosion.

_Why is this bothering me so much?_

Another.

_I already knew this would have happened sooner or later._

She sniffled.

Remembering his voice and eyes when he stood up to her, protecting _that_ woman.

_Why did his eyes look like that again?_

Her arms fell to her sides.

* * *

"well that was something" Rikku mumbled looking at the now empty common room.

"hope this isn't the norm here"

It was gonna get much worse from here.

* * *

It was midday by the time She got back, Izuku and the frog girl were making lunch.

"we are making curry, making yours a separate batch with ghost peppers added in," he said simply, the usual friendliness in his voice gone.

She huffed and walked up to her room.

Tsuyu turned to the man next to her "did something happen between you and Bakugou?"

He turned to her "….nothing I am willing to talk about- sorry"

She nodded "I am here if you need someone to vent to"

"Thanks, Tsuyu- but this is something personal"

"did she poke holes in the condom or something?" Minerva asked making him jump _how the fuck did she sneak up on me?_

_More importantly_

"Mineta- what are you talking about?"

"Did she like sabotage the contraceptives? You sound plenty mad" Minerva continued.

"Excuse me but _what?" _he asked, knife stilling "are you implying that we-"

"yes oh my god, the sexual tension is almost visible- that lucky slu-"

The knife in his hand slamming down on the cutting board with enough force to crack the wood stopped her.

"Mineta. One more thing like this?" His voice was strained, he was overcome with; not embarrassment.

But Rage.

Tsuyu shrunk in fear, she was too close to the immense killing aura flooding Izuku; Minerva who was the focus of it all almost emptied her bladder.

"and I will make sure no one finds the body"

"w-what b-body?"

"yours"

She ran off after that.

* * *

"M-midoriya?" Tsuyu asked, honestly scared from him currently "sorry about yesterday"

"what are you talking about Tsuyu?" he asked, his voice was back to normal.

"I was very forward-"

"Its fine. I'm used to that" he said simply- and it was true with Nemuri he had grown to get used to it all.

"But-"

"look its fine ok?"

She croaked

"…"

"…I'm … I guess frustrated?" He mumbled her stoic face making him open up. Something about her large eyes and how worried they looked.

"Kacch- Bakugou and I always had a rocky relationship- and today just." He looked to the side "today was one of the worse days- don't even know what's wrong with her- she got more violent after hearing Hatsume chat with me" he mumbled, voice low just enough for her to hear.

"…and who is Hatsume?"

"my best friend- she is in the support department"

"maybe Bakugou was just jealous?"

"…" he looked at her dumbstruck "Are you serious?"

"w-what- I mean you have nicknames for each other- I thought"

"those are our childhood nicknames- Useless Deku, me; and Kacchan for her, cause I couldn't pronounce her name at the time" he explained.

"oh"

"seriously you thought- no, she would never like me. Not after..." he trailed off

"you don't have to tell"

"thanks"

"but why were you so mad at Mineta for her suggestion then- you sound like you might harbor-" her voice died in her throat _why do I keep saying everything that comes to my head?_

"I might have." He said simply "I don't think I can anymore"

_At least not until she apologizes to Mei _


	12. There are things that are not sayable

They were both silent for the rest of the meal preparation.

Cooking had helped him clear his head, but this time, it wasn't enough. Neither was talking about it with Tsuyu apparently.

"Tsuyu, mind If I leave and do some training?" He asked as the curry simmered, basically done.

"Sure- Uh, how should I reach you when we are having lunch?"

He shook his head, "Not hungry."

She just nodded in response.

* * *

He heaved the bar up, holding it there, feeling his muscles ache.

He didn't need to do this. With Total Command his body would retain his muscle mass no matter what he did.

But that didn't mean that he wasn't deriving some pleasure out of it.

He let the bar drop back to his chest and lifted it back up again, letting his joints creak under the weight of it all.

"I know that sound."

The bar on his hand lost all its weight, he turned to see Ochako standing above his head, a plate in her hand.

"Uraraka," he mumbled still holding onto the thing, "give its weight back, I still want to work out."

"After lunch, ok?"

He grunted and sat up, not looking at her.

"Did Tsuyu send you?"

"No," she said simply sitting next to him and passing him a plate of curry and rice, "I got worried when I didn't see you at the table- Is something wrong?"

He accepted the plate. He wasn't hungry, but he knew his body needed the nutrients after the morning's ordeal. "You could say that"

"Want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, "I don't want to…" Exercise hadn't helped.

He raised his head to look at her, "It didn't help when I talked with Tsuyu-"

_That's cheating. _

She was giving him puppy eyes.

He sighed.

"Alright."

* * *

"So- She jus' attacked you?"

He nodded slightly while taking another spoonful of food.

"I wanna beat 'er up even worse now."

He choked on his meal, brain registering her switch back to her Kansai dialect. "URARAKA!"

"What? She's mean." she huffed, puffing her cheeks out with a small pout

He sighed placing the empty plate to the side, "She wasn't always like that."

"Don't defend her, Deku."

"I am serious, she just-" He slumped. "She never wanted me to be a hero- seeing me here is probably pissing her off"

"Deku, she gave you a concussion over your friend's word choice, said you slept your way in and we both know that's a lie- why do you keep trying to give her excuses?"

"I'm not mad about any of that," he admitted, "I can take a concussion or two it's just…"

"What she was about to say to Hatsume?" she completed. _That's so him._

"I guess?"

"Deku, you're too selfless for your own good," she said flicking him in the forehead, ignoring the slight pit in her stomach.

He needed a friend right now, not someone that would get jealous over this.

"I really am not," he smiled, "I can get stubborn and selfish." Her playful nature was helping him move past his slump

"Oh? I can see stubborn, Mr. 'I'll punch a zero-pointer into submission', but selfish? Can't see that." she giggled.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Ya' would give your arm up for someone Deku, come on."

"I mean, if it saved their life…"

She couldn't help it and started to laugh. He followed suit.

Her eyes landed on his laughing form between giggles, now that his tension was gone she could relax too, her brain finally registering what they were doing, sitting side by side, him sweaty in his workout clothes, and her breaking into her accent, neither caring as they laughed about what he had admitted.

She blushed.

_I like seeing him laugh… _

* * *

They walked back to the dorms after that.

"I'm telling you, men are terrifying." Minerva's voice echoed out of the common room just as they entered.

"I mean, you were pushing it, Mineta." Tsuyu croaked.

"Oh- I need to apologize to her." Izuku said absentmindedly

"You don't need to," Ochako said, voice a strange tone, "She deserves to be scared after what she tried to do last night."

"W-what did she try to do?"

"Nothing you need to know about."

He sweat-dropped. _Maybe I should Ask for Mecha-might to stand guard at my room?_

Tsuyu sighed a breath of relief when the two entered the dorm. She was sitting next to Minerva, watching Eiko and Mina and two others playing a multiplayer video game on the TV.

_Uh- let's see- Doi Kaminari is the one with the blonde hair with the lightning bolt, and Hana Sero is the one with the large elbows, wonder if that's due to her quirk..._

"Deku, you're muttering." Ochako whispered. Thankfully his voice was drowned out by the sounds of the game.

"Ah, thanks for stopping me." he mumbled, blushing.

Minerva's eyes landed on him.

"I'M SORRY!" Minerva screamed as took a step back and then dashed off.

The commotion got the four players' attention. "Oh, Midori's here!" Mina said, smile in her voice.

"You alright man? You weren't here for lunch," Doi asked eyes drifting down to his get up, "Oh, were you working out? _Nice. _" he gave him a thumbs up.

"Hey! We should work out together sometime." Eiko chimed in.

"Hey, I wanna join too!" Mina huffed, looking at her friend.

"Wait, weren't you going to teach me how to breakdance to help out with my move set?" Hana muttered to the pinkette.

"We all can work out together- Right, Midori?"

"Uh- Sure I don't mind." Izuku mumbled, not used to the friendliness the four were showing him. His eyes landed on Uraraka and he noticed she was a little stiff.

"Want to join, too?"

She looked away, but nodded. "Never worked out with someone before…"

"I haven't either"

Tsuyu looked at them all.

"I was right."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

* * *

"Did we have to get up this early?" they all hissed in union in the elevator, Izuku sweat-dropped again.

"It's better to work out early and then shower to ease the muscles," he explained.

"Oh?" Tomoyo looked to see Izuku, Ochako, Mina, Hana, and Eiko get out of the elevator. "Good to see you all up so early." she said from Momo's side, who started to grow flustered the moment Izuku came into view.

The shirt he was wearing wasn't leaving much to the imagination, and his shorts clung to his thighs a little tightly. Momo was having trouble _not_ looking at him.

Tomoyo noticed his get up too- and the rest of their clothes, " Are you all going out for a run?" she asked, glad to see the rest of the class were taking keeping their bodies in top shape seriously.

"Nah- working out," Ochako yawned, still too groggy to even register Izuku's state of dress, "right, Deku?"

He nodded "Well, we might start with a run to warm your bodies up," he hummed- something he didn't need to do since Total Command triggered that without the need of jogging.

"AlRIGHT, I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Eiko screamed out of nowhere waking the rest of the group up, possibly some of their classmates too, "LET'S GO!" and dashed off.

"Ah- Kirishima, wait!" Izuku chased after her, the rest following suit, including Tomoyo, leaving Momo alone.

"….He is going to kill me," she mumbled, fantasies overtaking her mind.

* * *

"Are you joining our work out too, Iida?" Izuku asked as they jogged another lap around the gym and training ground, only the two of them weren't out of breath.

"I am interested in your regiment- so if you wouldn't mind I would like to join too, yes," she answered.

_You monsters, _the rest of the girls huffed in their heads.

After five laps, the group stopped, Tomoyo taking a swig of orange juice, the other 4 girls panting heavily. Izuku didn't even look fazed.

"Alright- now stretching."

The tired ones groaned.

"Easy for you to say- just let us breathe for a second-" Mina huffed Eiko echoed a 'yeah'.

"You need to stretch before you rest- or you might pull a muscle, or worse, be sore tomorrow," he said, clicking into training mode, his voice slightly hollow.

Maybe he was trying to ignore that he had four panting and flushed girls around him, or maybe this was just automatic for him. He didn't know, he was too busy not thinking.

Whining, they agreed to just do it, and Izuku was surprised to see that Tomoyo was one of the most flexible ones, along with Mina, Eiko, and with Ochako the least.

"You not stretching?" Hana muttered, getting up from the ground, her stretches complete.

"Oh- I don't need to, my quirk does it for me," he muttered rubbing the back of his head.

"Cheater," Mina huffed.

Eiko glared at him, "Midoriya it's not very manly to make girls do something and not do it yourself."

"Fine," he muttered and got down, bending in ways someone with his musculature shouldn't be able to.

"You are more flexible than you look," Tomoyo admitted, Ochako and the rest trying not to have a heart attack about it all. _How is Iida so calm about this? _

"Yeah- quirk helps out with that, the reason why I don't need to stretch really," He said, head on his knees as he stretched forward, grabbing his shoes with ease.

"Actually- what is your quirk?" Tomoyo asked. They had accepted its presence but never talked about what it actually was. That brought Ochako out of her fluster.

"Total Control was it?..." she trailed off, trying to remember that day. She only remembered him smiling at her after announcing he was gonna make a page about her. Her face got red again.

"Total Command-" he corrected getting up, "but it's the same really- allows me to command every organ, tissue, and cell in my body."

"How is that any different than the rest of us?" Mina asked, looking around not getting it. Iida looked disturbed by her question

"Going by that description- he could speed up his metabolism for a jump in power as if he has the necessary fuel in his body, start healing early and so much more- if his control includes his hormonal functions then- there are no limits. There are so many natural limits human bodies usually have- in theory none of them would apply to him," she started explaining, the girls looked back at her with awe, "truly a versatile power fit for a hero, Midoriya."

He looked at her with shock, and just a little bit of pride "Thanks, Iida."

"Oh my apologies- I asked about yours without giving mine first-" she hiked up her sweatpants a bit showing the engines on her calves "I call it Engine. My body has internal engines located on my calves which run on citric acid, giving me a speed boost whenever I activate them."

"Interesting," he hummed, fingers moving as if he was turning pages, "any drawbacks?"

"It can stall if I use it too much, or misfire if I consume the wrong stuff."

"Man, you two's quirks are awesome," Eiko whined, Mina looked at her with sympathy, "mine is just this," She flexed her arm and the muscles got even more geometric until they sharpened and looked crystalline. "I call it Hardening- it's what it is."

"OH!" Izuku was on her immediately, looking at her arm with keen interest. Eiko never got a reaction like this from anyone else, causing her to blush softly. "That's amazing Kirishima, you can save so many people with this!"

She blushed and looked to the side "Thanks…"

"I told you it was useful, Kiri!" Mina cheered bringing Izuku's attention to her. She almost cooed at his eyes, he looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Mine is Acid," she let her hands drip with some of it, the droplets sizzling on the ground "I can secrete a powerful acid from basically anywhere, dilute or concentrate it as much as I need to and even change its viscosity. But... my skin is only resistant to it so if I use it too much…"

He nodded in understanding, "Still a powerful quirk."

"Tape," Hana said tugging at her elbows, some tape coming out "I can shoot it off when I need it- or pull it back- neat, right?"

"Yeah!" he nodded.

Ochako stiffened when eyes landed on her, "Oh! Mine is Zero Gravity-" she pulled her hands up showing the pads on the tips. "Anything that makes contact with 5 or more of these pads become weightless- if I try to make something that's too heavy weightless, I get very nauseous."

_Huh- wonder if its due to mental limiters or something physical, like the inner ears failing as they too become de-gravitised, like her hair- that might give her car sickness as her body thinks she had ingested neurotoxin- but then again how does her body produce the effect of 'removing gravity'? Maybe removing the effects of the Higgs field? _

The girls looked at him muttering up a storm, Ochako starting to blush and raise off the ground as her quirk activated, which brought him out of his thoughts. "Ah! Uraraka!" the rest noticed her floating form.

"I got her!" Hana announced, not noticing that Izuku was also preparing to jump.

He jumped.

She shot out her tape.

He grabbed her.

The tape wrapped around them both, forcing her against his body.

"Sero!?"

"Whoops."

* * *

"Sorry, Uraraka," he mumbled, his arms were around her, her hands forced to his chest. Thankfully they were made into fists so they weren't in danger of floating off.

Both weren't able to look at each other as the rest tried to remove the tape.

"What is this stuff even made out of?" Eiko grumbled, her hardened fingers weren't even breaking the tape.

"It's usually as strong as steel," Hana mumbled.

"Grr- that's it, I'm just melting it." Mina growled, starting to secrete some acid already.

"Wait- Ashido, no!" Eiko held her friend back.

"Kiri let me go It'll be so easy just a little drop."

"Ashido please," Hana said joining Eiko on holding the pinkette back

"You'll hurt them if you try doing that-" Tomoyo said also giving up on the removal on the tape and instead lecturing Mina on when using quirks is acceptable.

Ochako looked at him, "...Deku, can you get us out?" she asked shyly. _If he can defeat a 0_ _pointer then he might-_

"…I might be able to? But we are tied together, so if I put pressure on the tape it might hurt you-"

She shook her head, "I'll be fine, try it."

He nodded, "Tell me if anything hurts- here goes nothing."

He tried to force his arms apart, the tape stretching but not giving. He added more power to it. The tape still didn't break.

He gave up, hands pushing against her again, "Just like Sero said, tough as steel- I'm going to try something else."

She nodded again, getting comfortable in the forced embrace. _Is it bad that I'm enjoyin' feelin' his muscles against me?_

He let One for All flow through his arms, green lightning arcing on them both.

Just as he was about to put pressure on the tape, an arc hit her shoulder.

He knew it wasn't actually electricity- he would have never used in close quarters if that was the case, but he still panicked when an arc hit her shoulder.

She moaned.

His heart stopped for a beat.

The other four looked at the tied up two.

"Did you just _moan_?" Mina asked.

Both young adults blushed neon.

"S-sorry I didn't know it was gonna do that," he muttered.

"I didn't expect it I'm so sorry." she muttered back at the same time

_That felt so good_ she muttered deep within her, the moment the arc contacted her skin it had felt like he was caressing the location gently, easing all worries.

"Should I-"

She nodded, and he tried it again, this time snapping the tape before another arc landed on her.

She tried to hide the fact that she was disappointed by that.

They quickly took a step back from each other.

As the air became more and more awkward, Tomoyo cut in, "We should start exercising now, shouldn't we?"

They all nodded, and went in the gym.

* * *

After the workout, they were all sore.

Izuku had basically commanded them to take a hot shower to ease their muscles after training, in an attempt to mitigate soreness tomorrow and Tomoyo supported it.

"So... how did that feel?" Mina asked, leaning on the dividers between the shower cubicles.

"W-what?" Ochako mumbled back while rubbing some soap on herself.

"C'mon, you _moaned _, don't hold out on us now," she pestered.

"You shouldn't push her if she doesn't want to disclose," Tomoyo said, her glasses foggy. "but I am also curious," she added, adjusting them.

"Why are you wearing those in here?" Hana muttered.

"It- it didn't feel like anything- I was just shocked, ok?" Ochako mumbled, trying to wriggle her way out of this conversation.

"Yeah right, that was a _moan _Rara, just tell us how it fellllt~" Mina singsonged

"It's not really manly to pester, Ashido," Eiko stated, scrubbing her hair.

"Don't tell me you aren't curious about it, too!" She shot back.

She couldn't deny that; lying wasn't manly either.

"C'mon girl, spill iiiiiit"

Ochako huffed.

"...Like a gentle touch of a hero-" she mumbled under her breath, blushing even more.

"Aw, you made it sound romantic," Mina giggled.

Hana swore she could see steam coming out of the brunette's ears.


	13. And the mask slipped

He had walked to the support department after lunch. They still had a day and a half before classes started, so it was supposed to be in lockdown, but Mei had told him that Power loader gave her permission to enter the lab to work on her project, after the brief hug they shared yesterday. And told him to swing by the next day.

Well, it was the next day now and he was at the door, knocking on it gently. He didn't want to get caught up in an explosion as they were a staple in her work environment.

"were you expecting someone Hatsume?" came the voice of Power loader from the other side and the giant steel door slid open

"Midoriya?" She looked up at the young man's face

"Hello, Maijima sensei" he greeted, bowing a little "It's been a while"

"that it has- how was the move-in?" She asked moving out of the way and letting him get in

"It was… something alright- but my classmates seem nice" Power loader nodded

"Izuku is that you?" Mei asked popping out from the side, hands holding one iridescent green gauntlet, it looked heavier than before, yet she was lugging it around with ease.

"You know him?" Hitomu asked confusion echoing out along with her voice from under her helmet

"Yeah we are best friends" Izuku answered as Mei made her way to the two

"Try it on, try it on" She chanted, practically forcing the gauntlet over his right arm

He couldn't help but to smile at her enthusiasm "Ok ok- start up still the same?" he asked as the support gear clicked around his right arm

"Yeah!"

He tensed his fingers in order again, and the device hummed softly; booting up, the screen above his wrist made itself known as a dot appeared, then drew a circle the UI blinking to life "User input accepted, good afternoon Izuku" it hummed

"It keeps track of time?" He asked laughing, he couldn't help it.

This was just amazing.

"Mhm~" Mei nodded her head fast enough to make him worry that she was giving herself a concussion "with your parameters I could add so much more stuff- tense your pinky 3 times to open up the help menu"

Power loader looked at the two. _Nemuri you got some competition_

"where is Mecha-might by the way?"

"Oh still carrying the stuff from my old workshop to here and my room"

* * *

Meanwhile in Mei's Room

"**w̯͑h̛ͅy ̻̔a̞͋r̙e͋͟ t̰̆her͔̎e sǒ͟ ̺̌m̗͡a̺͆ny picturė̙s͇̑ of Ŷ͕o͎͛ung Mid̤͆o̘͠r̭͗iyǎ̘?͇̉**""

* * *

He tensed his index and ring finger in sequence "Bio-sonar" the machine announced, the fingers of the gauntlet splitting in half and folding away revealing his fingertips

"Hatsume- how did you even fit that amount of moving parts there- wow" he mumbled flexing his fingers with ease- the machine was a work of art. He knew Mei was talented, but this was something completely different.

Even Power loader looked impressed _bio-sonar? _she kept her questions to herself for now "she is gonna become one of my best students- if I can still teach her something that is"

Mei just got more hyper with the praise smiling wider "The announcements are just to guide you for the first few uses- you can turn it off whenever you want, switching it to icons on the main screen" she muttered in excitement "cmon, cmon try the Grenade launcher "

"the what?" He looked at her- _she is joking, right?_

"Middle finger 3 times, then pinky and pointer _Cmoooon_"

Power loader took a step back

* * *

He coughed as he stepped out of the lab; smoke exiting out of the door along with him, a wide smile on his face. Mei's enthusiasm about this all helped him to get in an even better mood.

She had told him that the full suit would be complete by the 1st no problem, he had told her to not to worry about it and take as much time as she needed. He knew of her habit of hyper-focusing on the current project and skipping out on the sleep. Plus, both gauntlets were done, that was more than enough.

His smile didn't waver till he got to the dorms, the students were clumped in the common room, missing the two recommended students.

"Oh, Midoriya you finally joined us" Tomoyo greeted.

"Hey- what's going on?"

"They are announcing the rankings of the accepted students" Mai answered from her dupli-mouth

"eh- it wasn't released with your grades?" he asked looking at the fall multi-armed woman

"Nah, we just got the grade we got, our class, and our temporary Id card" Kyoka answered for her

"now shush they are about to show the rankings" she hushed him

His eyes landed on the common room Tv

_Do the rankings even matter? We all got i-_

The screen flashed with the rankings

He saw the top of the list

'Midoriya Izuku: 86 villain points, 100 rescue points'

"…What"

* * *

Nozomi was laughing, squeaks mixed in with human laughter was… admittedly cute

Shiko rolled over to see what the commotion was about

"wait you are releasing the rankings now- didn't we add that to the video acceptance the girls got?"

The principal shook her head "God, no that would ruin the moment- look at their faces" she said between cackles

Aizawa smirked too

_Well, their expressions are worth the logical ruse_

* * *

Katsumi was still mad about yesterday, coming in second with 93 villain points didn't help.

Neither did the girls flocking around _him_. Praising him for his success.

Her hands formed into fists. No explosions formed.

She let them relax, and walked back up the stairs to her room, shoulders sagging

No one noticed her leave.

No one noticed her eyes slightly teary.

_He never needed me…_

* * *

He was caught up in the moment, his own eyes tearing up a little

He never expected to be the number one entrance batch- he didn't even dream of it.

But now here he was, accepted into All might's Alma mater with the top score

Ecstatic didn't even cover half of what he was feeling

"Midoriya are you alright?" someone asked, he didn't register who the voice belonged to

He just hugged them

"ok? Are you kidding? This is the best day of my life!" he cheered

Eiko was having the best day of her life too, in between his arms

The girls looked at the scene- Minerva was scared that he was going to just tear Eiko in half and was hiding behind Tsuyu's leg. Mina glomped on His side "I want a hug too" he didn't even think twice before adding her into it all Tooru soon joined, Then Doi, and so forth.

He was in the middle of his classmates, holding five in a bear-hug, Kyoka was pulled in at one point and was internally screaming- mind stuck in a battle between enjoying the contact and not.

Ochako knew she was getting jealous in there somewhere, but her inner psyche was silenced by the pure happiness Izuku was projecting at the moment.

Soon the hug-pile disbanded as Izuku came to his senses, blushing and apologizing profusely for the contact. They all waved him off saying they enjoyed it too, all except Kyoka, who had 'hmph-ed' with a red dusting on her cheeks. And stabbed Doi in the thigh when she tried teasing her about it.

"god its hot that he can lift us all with ease" Tsuyu croaked softly, Only Minerva and Ochako heard her, as they were the closest

"all the more power to snap us in half" Minerva shuddered, still scared of the man after yesterday's events

"that's even hotter" Tsuyu mumbled, lightly blushing

Ochako looked at the two in part disbelief and part understanding. She wanted to tell them he was too gentle to do that but- keeping Minerva terrified of him was the best plan of action for now,

Plus, she was too busy trying not to burst into flames with the amount of blushing she was trying and failing to suppress.

* * *

Dinner- upon their insistence, wasn't prepared by him. Something about spoiling them? Mai had taken over the cooking, making an octopus dish.

He tried to ignore the slight cannibalistic implications, considering her quirk.

"ughhh- can't believe the classes start tomorrow" Mina huffed from his side, he turned to face her.

"really? I am excited for it, aren't you?" he said simply, causing her to sag a little bit more

"I mean yeah, but all the academics and all- it's going to be such a pain in the ass" she hissed

"not the most academic?" Doi mumbled from the floor, she was gaming while Izuku and Mina watched on from the couch "I know I ain't"

"God yeah, I don't get classes _at all_" she continued to vent, Izuku listening in patiently. None noticed Kyoka walk into the common room "we don't even need half the stuff they crammed into the course schedule- modern lit? hero art history?"

_Whoa, whoa, whoa._

"Hero art history is important Ashido, its to help us come up with hero names and costumes- and modern lit is for the speeches we are going to have to give" he started not being able to stop himself

Both Doi and Mina looked at him, causing Doi to get a game over. Kyoka started laughing

"didn't know you were such a nerd Green" she managed to jab between fits of giggles

"I-" he blushed a bit "I guess I am? But-" he looked back to Mina and Doi "I can help you study if you need it"

"I'll take you on that offer," Doi said smirking, Mina nodded along,

His eyes drifted at the giggling form of Kyoka

_She looks cute when she laughs_

She grew deathly quiet and walked away with a huge blush

"oh- did I say that out loud?" he asked looking at Mina, she started giggling herself nodding as an answer

"Say you are quite the lady killer aren't you Midoriya?" Doi teased "got Jirou there all hot and bothe-"

She didn't get to finish as one of Kyoka's Aux cords sank into her ear, blasting Kyoka's, now accelerated, heartbeat straight into the sensory organ, she doubled in pain, screaming apologies.

_Did not know those things could extend that far_

* * *

It was the next morning, the final day before the classes started.

For the first time, the whole class was at the breakfast table, eating omelets Izuku had cooked upon his awakening. Even Katsumi was in the group, looking blankly at the meal. Eiko seemed to be trying to cheer her up with minimal success.

"Midoriya, your cooking is great as always" Tomoko hummed taking another bite of her omelet, nodding with pleasure as she did so.

"didn't we tell you not to cook?" Kyoka hissed taking another bite of hers. _God if I get hooked on this it's over_

"sorry- woke up early and had nothing better to do-" he answered meekly "plus it clears my mind"

"oh right- talking about that-" Tsuyu butted in "I just realized you said 'didn't you get the rankings with the letter' did you not get a letter Midoriya?"

He stopped for a beat

He had never gone back to get the letter- if it even was sent to his home

"Oh"

Momo turned to him. _He never told the rest, did he?_

"well- I was hired here, I think to 'keep track' of me since, you know…" he started, omitting just enough to keep his relationship with All might hidden "so I already had an Id to go through the gates, they just messaged me about getting accepted and told me to move in"

Katsumi's grip on her fork tightened "you know?" she huffed under her breath and got up, leaving the plate in the sink and going back upstairs "thanks for the meal"

The rest of the class looked at her leave, Izuku's own mood dropping along

"what's up with her?" Doi muttered, neither Izuku, Ochako or Tsuyu made a peep

Minerva would have spilled it all if Izuku wasn't at the table

God knows what he would have done if she did

* * *

His phone pinged

All might had messaged him after weeks of radio silence

'Sorry for not replying, was busy with paperwork'

His eyebrow twitched _what paperwork?_

'I'll tell you about it later, I am proud that you got first place in the listings'

A warm smile graced his face

* * *

He woke up groggily- Total command or not his anxiety had kept him awake for most of the night, he yawned tugging at his tie, he hadn't managed to tie it properly, the main knot being disproportionately huge. He couldn't bring himself to care

"Morning Midoriya" Momo greeted getting out of her own room, getting a faint blush at the sight of his form. "I- Are those pants allowed in class?" she asked looking away from him

"It's what they gave me, so I am guessing its part of the male uniform" he responded, energy slowly filling his body as his brain woke up more. _Huh these pants are really tight now that I think about it_

Nozomi had 'adjusted' the male uniform to have slim jeans. The rest of the faculty didn't question it.

Now fully aware he looked at her and actually saw her, the female uniform looked great on her.

_Wait a minute_

His eyes got caught on something shiny on her

_Is that a pin on tie?_

His intense stare was making her blush even more "Uh- Midoriy-"

She was cut off when another door opened, it was Shoko. She nodded to the both of them in greeting and walked past them

Izuku was broken out of his trance and said a soft good morning to her

"we should probably get down too- class starts in what, 20 minutes?" he hummed

Then as if he forgot something he stopped and knocked on 304's door

"Five more minutes" someone from the other side of the door groaned

"Kirishima you'll be late to class"

* * *

Idle chatter covered the class everyone either sitting in their spots or, in Fumiko's case on the desk, Tomoyo was busy lecturing her from her seat next to the avian headed student

"Deku, you know the teachers, right? Who do you think is going to be our homeroom teacher?" Ochako said excitement evident in her voice "Hope she's going to be someone fun~"

"oh- its either going to be Vlad Queen or Aizawa sensei"

"Aizawa? Who's that?" Tsuyu asked from behind him

"Oh- Eraser he-"

The door to the class slid open suddenly. And everyone stopped the chatter, staring at the giant yellow caterpillar that was inching in

"it took you 0.1 seconds to quiet down" the caterpillar spoke, raising up and shedding its cover

The class saw Shiko Aizawa in her full glory for the first time "very rational, time is limited- that being said" she produced a gym uniform from her sleeping bag "get into your gym uniforms and go down to the training grounds"

She looked at them blankly when none moved

"Did you not hear me?" she questioned, the edge in her voice making everyone suddenly switch into action

* * *

Izuku was thankful that at least the gym uniform was not tight on his body as he walked out of the male changing room, He was also glad that Nozomi had ordered for that room to be built.

_Then again what would they have done ask me to change with the girls?_

_…_

_Well I can see that happening with Nozomi's track record_

He was the first to the field Shiko nodded "good to see you are still logical Midoriya"

He rubbed the back of his head "thanks?"

* * *

The rest of the class soon joined them the girls bubbling with excitement, guesses about the activity were being thrown around

Shiko cut in by tossing a ball at Katsumi who caught it with ease

"step into the circle and toss it as hard as you can when I tell you to, you can use your quirk"

She nodded and walked up

"Today we are doing a quirk apprehension test, you have all done these exercises in middle school, yet this is the first time you'll be allowed to use your quirks." She droned on

"It's illogical to not have these exercises without using your quirks, messes with the baseline in your head. It's a flaw in the education system that we keep on ignoring, today we mitigate this flaw"

_She is.. oddly passionate about this, isn't she?_

"starting with Bakugou, with the highest villain points" she nodded at her

Katsumi reeled her arm back. Hand slightly twitching.

This was going to be her outlet.

"DIE" she screamed tossing the ball and adding a massive explosion behind it

_She never changes, does she?_

Shiko looked down on the small tablet in her hands the numbers kept on going

"1 kilometer" she announced letting the students see the tablet

Katsumi smiled with pride


	14. The lunatic and the lover

A names list for reference:

Shoto Todoroki: Shoko Todoroki | Yuga Aoyama: Yui Aoyama

Tenya Iida: Tomoyo Iida | Mashirao Ojiro: Makaira Oijiro

Denki Kaminari: Doi Kaminari | Eijiro Kirishima: Eiko Kirishima

Koji Koda: Kanna Koda | Rikido Sato: Rikku Sato

Mezo Shoji: Mai Shoji | Hanta Sero: Hana Sero

Fumikage Tokoyami: Fumiko Tokoyami | Katsuki Bakugo: Katsumi Bakugo

Minoru Mineta: Minerva Mineta

Teachers:

Higari Maijima (Power loader): Hitomu Maijima | Sekijiro Kan (Vlad king): Shiori Kan

Ken Ishiyama (Cementos): Kei Ishiyama | Hizashi Yamada (Present mic): Hikaru Yamada

Shota Aizawa (Eraser Head): Shiko Aizawa | Toshinori Yagi (All might): Toshiko Yagi

Ryo Inui (hound dog): Rin Inui | Nezu: Nozomi

* * *

And with that out of the way, time for the new chapter

* * *

"Hatsume " Hitomu hummed looking at the young inventor building up a storm "I was meaning to ask"

She looked up from the green suit in her hands

"Yeah?"

"What was that Bio-sonar thing about?"

* * *

"ONE KILOMETER?" Eiko screamed, Mina, having a similar expression

"well she was the second place in the practical…" Tomoyo mumbled as if it was a precedent for the second place to be _this_ powerful

Katsumi didn't pay any mind to that comment. She hadn't even registered it, gloating on a job well done

"this looks so fun" Tooru cheered

Izuku's eyes widened- _wait no_

"Oho?" Shiko's hair borrowed a page from Ochako's book and started floating, yet unlike hers, it didn't frame her face, it kept on going

The ruffled and unkempt hair raising up with the sheer pressure was a sight that made everyone's blood run cold

"fun you say?" her eyes began to shine dimly, to the point that they looked like they were glowing

"then let's add a new rule, shall we?"

Izuku gulped- _this was the plan all along wasn't it, Eraser-head?_

"the one that's at the bottom of the rankings, will be labeled hopeless and expelled promptly"

Her tone of voice left no room to argue

* * *

"she can't really do that can she?" Ochako asked him during the first test, 50-meter dash, Tsuyu and Tomoyo were competing

"They are really free in this university- remember the 0-pointer?" he asked eyes focused on the test takers- _Iida said something about being stuck on 3rd gear in this short a distance?_

Ochako started to sweat

* * *

He let his heart-rate increase. It was his turn for the 50-meter dash. Katsumi was stretching next to him

_Time to show him how futile this all is, once and for all_

They both crouched at the starting line

The starting gun clicked

She shot out with successive explosions, expecting for him to fall behind

He burst through the smokescreen her explosions caused and powered ahead

"2 seconds" the robot at the end announced as he passed the line, crouched down and gasped, taking stabilizing breaths as his heart-rate plummeted back

Katsumi barely made it in 4

He raised his head and looked at the class and Shiko, they were looking at him awestruck

"what?"

* * *

Mina understood how much difference Total command made now;

She had thought 'true speed' would have looked like what Tomoyo had. Balanced, measured strides with power behind each swing, calculated and precise.

Engineered for speed.

Izuku had proved her false with one second of exposure.

His stride wasn't calculated or precise. Chaotic fit better as a description. His whole body was lurching forward, each muscle adding to his momentum, not just his legs. Her mind was still convinced that she didn't see Izuku for the one second it had glimpsed him;

But a force of nature, ready to knock down anything on its path.

* * *

That revelation about Total Command went over the head of anyone that wasn't in the little workout group

"I knew he was strong but- wow" Momo mumbled

"I'll say" Jirou mumbled along

As the two test takers rejoined the group Katsumi was busy scowling at the ground.

_This doesn't make sense... he was supposed to be…_

* * *

Tomoyo had proved herself the fastest during the long-distance run, even with Total Command he couldn't keep up with her 5th gear. Finishing second

He was the only one that wasn't panting by the end of it

Aizawa's eyebrow twitched

_Is he not pushing himself to the limits?_

* * *

Seated toe touch, tie between him, Mai and Fumiko, Dark shadow had pushed the Avian headed student over her limits, and the measuring plate. For Mai, it was easy to just use her dupli-arms to reach past the plate

He was the only one that was flexible enough to reach past it, seemingly, without the use of a quirk

Eiko felt like her face was on fire, something that was reflected in most of the class, she wasn't sure why Katsumi was so mad at this, considering the small fireworks at her hands- _Wait is that a blush?_

* * *

"Infinity"

Aizawa said plainly as Ochako's ball disappeared in a twinkle, she cheered in relief. That should put her somewhere safe in the rankings

It was his turn now.

He took a step towards the ring and picked up a new ball

Aizawa's eyes glanced up at him. He was ranking quite well, and_ his conditioning is letting him overtake people with quirks_

But that wouldn't be enough for the world, he would be the first male hero.

And no villain would pass up the chance to be the one that killed the first.

He needed to be stronger than his peers.

She needed to end this right now if he couldn't rise to the challenge

"Midoriya," she said as he wound up, making him stop

"if you don't take the first place on this one, you'll be leaving along with the lowest ranker"

Everyone froze

"Bu-but that's not fair" Ochako blustered from the crowd "he can't beat mine- my quirk was practically built for this"

The rest nodded, Katsumi smirked

_Finally, before he hurts himself in the field_

"the world is unfair," he said simply, looking down slightly

He knew that. He had lived that for so long, ostracized for something beyond his control. He might have power now but that didn't- _couldn't_ make him forget the years he had lived.

"every day someone innocent gets hurt in the crossfire, every day someone loses their life to an accident" he droned on, then looked straight at Aizawa "A hero's duty is to overcome that unfairness and mandate it, isn't it?"

She didn't respond, her poker-face not cracking even under his determined glare

"I take you up on your challenge Eraser"

_This kid…_

* * *

he grabbed the zipper of his tracksuit and hesitated

_It'll get ripped off like last time if I don't._

He unzipped it and shrugged it off. Blushing slightly as he did, revealing his toned torso for all to see

Some of his classmates like Shoko and Mai didn't react, some turned away to give him privacy, others blushed and stared, unable to tear their eyes off of his sculpted from

"what are you doing?" Aizawa questioned, one of the few unaffected by the action

"winding up," He said simply, pulling his arm back and tensing every muscle fiber he had on the limb, causing it to bulge and its joints to crack

His Bicep and Latissimus muscles had 'locked' his arm in place and his Triceps and Pectoral were tensing harder and harder

_Just like pulling on a slingshot._

"I suggest you all take a step back" he added, as his arm pulsed once then started getting redder, he had opened all the capillaries and flooding the limb with all the blood it needed.

"this might cause some kickback" lightning started cracking as he engaged One for All too. **_Local-environ_** his mind echoed again, upper body bulging asymmetrically like last time.

Katsumi's eyes widened, so did Aizawa's,

"IS THAT A QUI-"

The explosive tempered woman's words were cut off by a sonic boom, followed by another.

Izuku had let the ball loose.

* * *

The class had heeded his warnings, except Katsumi, and took a few steps back, but they couldn't be prepared for _that_.

A few screamed in shock and Kyoka in pain as the ball reached Mach 2, the shock-wave kicked up a dust-cloud that covered up the epicenter of the blast, hiding Izuku away.

Katsumi was the first to recover, her quirk had made her nigh immune to shock-waves.

"**DEKU**" she screamed anger and betrayal in her voice "EXPLAIN YOURSELF" she dispersed the dust cloud between he and her using a few explosions "YOU HAD A QUIRK ALL THIS TIME?"

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the state he was in, right arm hanging loosely by his side shoulder slumped unnaturally.

His arm had dislocated.

Her expression went from anger to horror, to uncontrolled rage.

He hadn't even registered her, the shockwave from the ball had hit him straight on and his senses were still coming back to him, he shook his head and turned to look at her,

"what?"

She wasn't sure if she was terrified or even angrier that he seemed to be ok about having _dislocated his fucking shoulder._

She took a few more steps hands exploding with each step "YOU FUCKING HEARD ME YOU SACK OF S-" she was silenced, the dust cloud had settled and as soon as she was visible capture-tape encompassed her face and pulled her away from him, her hands failing her as her quirk was shut down.

"Bakugou, behave" Aizawa hissed, eyes glowing red.

She fought against the bindings for a while as Izuku took a few steps back, raising his one functional arm in an effort to show that he was a non-threat.

"Midoriya, explain" the teacher commanded, and Katsumi stopped resisting

"explain what?" he asked honestly confused

"how you did that you moron" Katsumi screamed through the bindings, coming through muffled and warped.

He got even more confused "I used my quirk to push my body further beyond?"

"Plus ultra?" Tooru and Mina mumbled not being able to help themselves, causing some of the girls to giggle.

"well its what I did- I pushed my arm and shoulder muscles to their limits using Total command, my quirk," he said as he grabbed his right shoulder and plugged it back in like it was second nature "I was using it this whole time- wait- did Nozomi not tell you?"

_IM GOING TO FUCKING KILL THAT MOUSE_ Shiko screamed in her head.

_That explains why he wasn't out of breath, his heart rate can drop suddenly- not to mention that lightning was from him and not the 4th gen in the test. How was I so blind?_

In her moment of realization, she had blinked, letting Katsumi regain her powers. She took the chance to blow up again releasing her from the capture tape and dashed onto Izuku.

She would have grabbed him by the collar- but considering he was shirtless she couldn't do that. Instead, she opted for kicking him behind the knees and grabbing his face as he fell

Staring down at him like she used to when they were kids.

Like when he got his quirk and lied to her about it.

Lied to her face.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOURSELF" she screamed in his face- and he panicked

"I didn't know I had one till very recently" he defended himself

She wasn't buying that "BULLSHIT HOW DID YOU NOT KN-"

Tomoyo was by her side, a hand on her shoulder, Momo pointing a steel staff at her other, Ochako in front, hand outstretched to touch her if she moved. _when did they get there?_

"Bakugou, your actions do not fit a class environment please cease your contact with Midoriya" Tomoyo spoke, voice monotone

"It's fine," Izuku said "I should have told her the moment I knew- she deserved to know.-" he took a breath, her grip on his face loosened "Kacch-"

"that's enough out of all of you" Aizawa cut in "Bakugou, if you don't let go now you'll be the one expelled- and you three settle down or you'll be joining her"

The three didn't budge until Katsumi dropped her hands "Yes sensei" and walked back to the rest of the class

Momo dropped her staff, and Tomoyo's hand that was on Katsumi reached out to help Izuku up, he took it

* * *

The tablet pinged as the three departed from the area, Izuku rolled his right shoulder and turned to Aizawa.

"I still have 2 more tosses left right?"

She looked up at him, puzzled "what are you talking about?"

"that toss wasn't infinity- was it? I want to try again to not get expelled" he explained.

_Oh- oh right, that_

She looked down to the tablet and flinched.

"36.7 kilometers" she mumbled under her breath.

The highest one in the class barring Ochako.

Kyoka grabbed onto Momo "please give me ear protection"

She was about to comply as Aizawa just shrugged "No need- you have proven yourself, you aren't getting expelled"

He looked at her un-impressed, but more relaxed.

"It was just a logical ruse to push you to your limits"

"my ARM GOT DISLOCATED ERASER"

"but you pushed yourself past your limits" she smirked.

"you rational-" he grumbled and picked up his tracksuit, zipping it back up.

The rest of the class looked shell-shocked by Izuku's outburst and the teacher's lazy reply to it all.

"Oh right- the 'expelling the lowest ranked one' part was just another logical ruse"

"I- I mean yeah, she wouldn't expel anyone in the first day, right?" Momo tried to explain it all away for herself. Today was a mentally taxing day.

"oh my god you are worse than Nozomi- why are you lying to them?"

Everyone stared at Izuku _please no- we can handle only so much._

She didn't answer and walked away with a creepy smile on her face "your syllabuses are on your desks, class dismissed, see you tomorrow"

"Midoriya what are you talking about?" Momo mumbled fearing his answer slightly.

"she expelled the last class, every single member because they didn't hold any potential- if no one got expelled that means she sees enough potential in us to teach us"

They all took a sigh of relief, some jumping in celebration

"why did you give her that much sass?" Tsuyu asked, it being the first thing that came to her mind after relief hit her.

He rubbed the back of his head "She seemed to enjoy that type of banter on the teacher's lounge- kinda stuck with me"

They all stared at him

"it's the first day of classes and you managed to become the teacher's pet" Kyoka mumbled, deadpan

"I- I mean"

With the stress of the test gone, and the sheer absurdness of the meek boy giving the homeroom teacher lip broke them and the class started to chuckle that grew to an outburst of laughter

* * *

"you seem to be in a better mood" Eiko hummed in the changing room next to Katsumi

She just grunted a "shut up shitty hair" _he was going to call me that again…_

_But he still lied to me. _She shook her head getting a scowl

_Not going to forgive him that easily_

"Please do not assault any other classmates" Tomoyo lectured from her other side

"Yeah, yeah, whatever glasses"

"we never got our rankings, did we?" Tsuyu asked to Ochako at the side

"she'll probably give them out tomorrow or something- you know how they like to make us anticipate" Momo answered for the gravity nullifying woman

"Hey guys"

Everyone turned to Minerva

"Midoriya is on the other side of this wall, right?"

Momo had a _bad_ feeling about this

"there is a hole on here" she was drooling

"Mineta- no that's a gross invasion of his privacy and-"

"shut the fuck up prude-" she said wiping away the drool and moving down to stare through

"If you don't want to see then don't look- I was just sharing cause' I know some want to" she explained

_I mean- she's not wrong_ Hana and Tsuyu thought

Before she could actually look at it killing aura filled the room, from both Ochako and _Katsumi?_

" don't you da-" Ochako's threat died midway through as Katsumi was on the small woman in an instant Hand blowing up to her side towards the wall in a threatening manner "Try it grape-shit and I will leave just a stain where you stand"

Minerva was a coward, that was true. But her cowardice paled next to her perverseness

"Oh shut up- you only talk big cause you saw it already haven't you? You childhood friend types always have that subplot"

Katsumi blew up, both figuratively and literally in anger; or embarrassment, even she didn't know.

It didn't even matter anyway- the end result was the same. Minerva was knocked out cold by the shockwave and fear.

And the wall between the changing rooms crumbled away

* * *

Izuku had just removed his tracksuit pants and was in his boxers, picking up his school-issued pants when he heard the sound and looked at the source.

Only to see his classmates in stages of undress staring back at him

He blinked

They blinked

"holy shit I want him to crush me with his thighs," Tsuyu said aloud

Then the screaming started

* * *

Nozomi was having the best fucking day of her life

"didn't even have to lower the wall with the controls" she gasped between fits of laughter

"god humans are fun to mess with"

* * *

Izuku's hands twitched in panic and the pants shred between his grip. He sputtered out several apologies in rapid fire and promptly dashed out of the room.

Forgetting that he was just wearing boxers

"god his butt is shapely too"

"Asui while I understand it is your mating season and you can't really control it but _please_" Tomoyo begged

* * *

Nemuri rubbed her face, the introduction ceremony had taken _ages _and she wanted to just lay out on the couch in the teacher's lounge

She didn't even notice the green blur dashing down the hall

Something fast and hard crashed onto her and they tumbled down, the object twisting her mid-air to make sure she wasn't the one to hit the floor

"Eh?"

She looked down to see a shirtless Izuku under her;

The only thing separating them, the flimsy fabric of his boxers, and her leather corset

He looked up at her blushing violently,

Her face heated up too and she licked her lips. _Must have fallen asleep in the lounge already_

"must be having another good dream~" she mumbled leaning down hand ghosting over the firm body under her, scraping against every valley his toned muscles created

She had wet dreams every once in a while, where she could act out everything she wouldn't dare to in real life

The only time she could _be_ with him

"so, what do you want to do first?" she purred, voice heavy and eyes glazed with lust

he blushed even harder, tongue-tied and mumbling in speeds humans were not equipped to understand in

"Midoriya do I need to give you detention?" came a tired voice from the side

He cheered in his head, he was saved

"ohhhh~ it's a kinky one, I should enjoy it while I can" Nemuri reached down and groped his crotch

He eeped

"aight- not getting paid enough for this" Aizawa's capture tape wrapped around Midnight and pulled her off of the panicking man "get these on- its cold out" She mumbled walking away, tossing him the gym clothes she had in her sleeping bag, with Nemuri struggling against the cloth binding her

"EreaSER STOP COCKBLOCKING ME IN MY DREAMS" she screamed as both the teachers entered the lounge, its door slamming shut

He looked down on the tracksuit and put it on and breathed a sigh of relief

_Well that was a wild first day_


	15. On the verge of a usual mistake

The moment the door slid shut Shiko let go of the tape and Nemuri pouted at the floor "why did you stop me- isn't this my dre- OW"

Shiko had just pinched her

She rubbed her cheek "why'd ya do tha-"

Her face paled

"It's not a dream"

Shiko grunted and went to her sleeping bag

"Oh God it's not a dream" She grabbed her face blushing madly, "**oh god it's not a dream**"

Well, tomorrows Hero art history class just got a hell of lot awkward-er

* * *

Izuku- not comfortable going back to the dorms and facing his classmates, opted to go to Mei's workshop and stay there till he could forget everything he saw.

The trouble was, even with Total Command he couldn't erase memories- some part of his mind refused to let the images be purged

…He did not know what to feel about that

His mind flashed with the scene he had just seen, Katsumi in her sports bra staring at him, eyes widened in shock, Ochako with her cute top and flushed face, Eiko with her bandage-bound chest, Momo changing out of her sports bra to her casu-

He slammed his head against the Steel of the support course workshop door

"Mei is Mecha-Might in there? I need him to punch me in the head till I get a concussion"

* * *

Little did he know the girls were having the same dilemma- failing to forget his state when the wall crumbled.

The silence that occurred after Tomoyo's plea hadn't faded

And it was getting to all of them

"g-guess he _was_ a guy after all huh?" Mina mumbled trying to get the group to lighten up

"y-yeah" some mumbled back

Katsumi was silent _… well, he seems to have grown down the-_

She slammed her head against the lockers

"Woah- Bakugou you alright?" Eiko asked

"Peachy" she hissed

"I- I can't believe he saw us" Kyoka mumbled, a heavy blush on her face

"it- it's not like he had a choice" Momo mumbled back, sporting a similar look

"damn, Tsuyu was right about him" Doi mumbled;

getting a nod from the frog-girl "I know right?"

"wonder if he'd go out with me" Doi wondered aloud causing the some of the girls to lock onto her with a ping of… _rivalry?_

"He seems like the type that couldn't say no" Tsuyu admitted finger on her chin "then again he might just tune you out if you tried doing it"

"God, I need that power" Jirou whispered to herself causing Ochako to start giggling

Minerva woke up groggily "what happened?"

"oh right- she was knocked out" Ochako mumbled, smiling inwardly

"wHERE'S THE WALL" the small woman screamed looking at the debris "AND WHERE IS MIDORIYA'S ST-"

"**Finish that sentence and the wall won't be the only thing broken**" the rest of the class hissed, the unanimous mixture of voices causing the resident Grape-head to shrink in fear with an undignified whimper.

* * *

"C'mon Hatsume Let me iiin-" he whined at the support course door

"Nuh-uh - no peeks before the suit's done" she responded from the other side of the door

"fine" he huffed sliding down the metal plate

_Now what?_

* * *

In the end, he decided to go back to the dorms, not like he could go to the teachers' lounge with Midnight there-

That situation needed more time to even think about let alone talk to her about.

He quickly looked around the common-room when he got into the dorms, hoping he could just sneak by to his room

Luck wasn't on his side

"Green"

He gulped

"Sorry Jirou"

"s-sorry for what?" Kyoka asked, trying to act cool through it- the image didn't even start to work as her stutter and flaming blush made themselves apparent

"…" he just stood there trying to figure out the best plan of action

_Play along?_

_Or just apologize?_

He shook his head "I- I'm sorry" he repeated

Kyoka looked ready to explode right there and now "ok- we're doing this-" she mumbled under her breath, her jacks fiddling with each other anxiously "i- its really no problem- I saw you too right? It's only fair"

Ochako had rounded the corner, and saw Izuku in his 'constant apology mode'

He took a sharp inhale, something between relief and even more guilt settling over him "No- I'm sorry I saw something I shou-"

"Don't apologize-" She cut in blushing even more than the two others combined, fingers touching against each other with anxiety "It's not like you knocked the wall down- it was not your fault"

"y-yeah what she said" Kyoka added in

"-even so I saw something I shouldn't ha-"

Doi walked in

_What the fuck is my luck?_

"Oh- Hey Midoriya wanna go out?"

He shut down right then and there

"I must go, and again I am sorry", he said bowing down, not hearing any of their reactions as he climbed up the stairs to his room

"Damn- Tsuyu was right" Doi mumbled watching him go

"good going; Moron" Kyoka huffed turning away "god, it's like you have no common sense"

"Hey I'm not the one not accepting his apology and making it even more awkward" she argued back, only to get stabbed in the ear as a retort

Ochako looked at where Izuku had disappeared from their sight

_…Tsuyu is right about a lot of things- including his bu-_

Her quirk activated

* * *

He huffed and slid down his door

"god I am a failure as a human being"

"aren't you exaggerating?" came a stoic voice

He flinched

"Shoko?" He asked looking at the intruder in his room

She stared back "hello"

"wh-what are you doing in here?" he muttered, face flushing, his brain was completing what was under her casualwear and _that is not appreciated; you useless sack of grey-matter, **stop it.**_

"I came to apologize, sorry to intrude" she mumbled, his eyes averted from her by sheer power of will and gravitated towards what was in her hand

His sketchbook

_Oh god no_

Seeing his apparent alarm, she shrugged "sorry, couldn't help myself. Your stuff is good"

He wasn't sure if that was a genuine compliment or just her way of trying to damage control.

Or lure him into a false sense of security

"But you really made me look prettier than I am" she mumbled closing the book

"I-" _ok that's definitely a trick question- what to say what to sa-_

"I just drew what I saw" he winced. _God. Fucking. Dammit. **Deku.**_

"oh-" she, actually, blushed slightly, looking at the sketchbooks cover

_She what now? _He blinked trying to dispel this sorcery caused by his panicking brain

"I- I got to go, again sorry for seeing you in your underwear"

With that she pushed past him and out of the door, he actually felt the heat radiate from her left side as she did so.

"what just happened?"

* * *

He was laying in bed trying to comprehend the days events

"ok so, Kacchan actually behaved somewhat civilly during the ending of the test, I accidentally saw everyone almost naked, got groped by Midnight, and just saw Shoko of all people blushing" he recounted

"yeah no I definitely killed myself with the thing I attempted at the ball throw, probably my clavicle dislocated and stabbed me in the trachea- and this is the last stuff my mind processe-"

A knock on the door made him stop

"Uhm- Midoriya could I come in?"

That was Momo- He couldn't handle seeing her- not right now

"sure"

_Fuck everything I stand for; _he groaned inside his mind

"I brought you something to eat-" she mumbled getting in, he sat up in his bed in greeting

"sorry-" they both mumbled simultaneously

"oh" again in sync

He shrugged, getting used to the awkwardness of this all

"wasn't really in our control was it?" he asked getting up

"it really wasn't" she mumbled in reply, averting her eyes. Her mind was playing 'pin the naked image' with his body, making her unable to look at him "h-here" she announced passing him some soup, and Katsudon

"how did you-"

"Bakugou," she said quickly, still not looking at him

His eyebrows furrowed "She told you guys?"

"she made it- to apologize- she was the one that knocked down the wall after all"

He stood there in shock

"h-huh"

_Yeap, I'm definitely dead_

* * *

She remained in his room as he ate his meal on his desk, looking at all the posters of the heroes

"he is really a huge hero fan isn't he?" She mumbled

He choked on his pork, _oh god its spreading_

She panicked "oh- oh I'm sorry did I say that out loud?"

He waved his hand, the other punching his chest "no, no its fine, I do that all the time too" he took a steadying breath and looked down to the half full bowl.

"and yeah- I kinda am, always was. Got really lucky manifesting a quirk, getting to my dream school, meeting you all" he smiled softly, along with a slight blush

Momo could feel herself start _actually_ falling for him.

It was terrifying, yet she couldn't move.

"I- I see" she looked around more

A comfortable silence formed, and he continued eating his meal

* * *

"Midoriya may I ask you something?" She finally said, just as he finished his rice

"sure"

"… how does your quirk work?" …that wasn't what she wanted to ask but it would do

"Its basic really- Just controlling my bodily processes- yours is more impressive, what do you call it? And what's the process behind it?"

"Eh-" she flinched, she wasn't expecting the conversation to lead to there "-oh, I call it creation. It lets me create anything from my lipid stores, It has to be non-living however- and I can only create something if I know its molecular make-up"

She made the mistake of looking back at him

Her heart clenched at his awestruck expression

_That needs to be illegal_

"Anything?" he asked almost vibrating, the awkwardness of the changing room forgotten for now "wait" he stalled "then why do you keep using the materials you do in your creations?"

Ok, that got her attention, and she too, forgot the awkwardness "what do you mean?"

"like- I saw you create a cannon during the softball toss right? Why did you use steel for the barrel instead of like- a carbon structure, like a diamond? Can't you generate crystal structures in specific shapes?"

She looked at him blankly _wait- what_

"I- I need a minute"

She stood there just thinking- what he said was true, she could use rarer materials in her constructs- she just had never thought about using unconventional materials until now

"why haven't I-" she slumped a bit- "wait can I even?"

She tried doing it, and to her surprise, a diamond staff started to form out of her arm, faster than the steel one, as the lattice structure almost built itself without much thought from her

He watched the creation process, with keen interest, eyes wide and full of awe

She had a shocked expression herself;

Suddenly a lot of new doors had opened

The staff dropped off of her with a crystalline ting on the floor

He reached down and picked it up, passing it to her

She held the staff with unsteady hands, it was lighter than the steel one, however more durable-

Now she could add more weight to the tips to add more power to her swing-

_Oh god_\- she had used less mass to create this, less lipids- meaning she could create more stuff if she started changing out the materials to less conventional ones, that were lighter and stronger.

Ones that were not the standard due to how hard they were to machine or obtain

She didn't have those limitations- she was building matter from its molecules up, she could theoretically- now proven practically- create materials that had been theorized for years but never had the technology to fabricate.

For 14 years of having this quirk, she had never thought of this.

In a minute of knowing about it, Izuku had improved its effectiveness nearly tenfold.

She didn't know if she was about to smack herself in the head for her idiocy, or hug the daylights out of him cause of his ingenuity

"I- I don't know what to say" she mumbled looking down at the staff

He looked at her then the staff, eyes smiling "you really are amazing- I just suggested it, and you did something you never even attempted before in a single try"

She looked to him

"told you deserved to be here," he said, voice full of certainty, smile wide and from the heart.

_Oh god_

_It happened_

She looked away blushing "you- you are the amazing one here-" she mumbled, grip tightening around the staff

_I fell for him._

* * *

She had basically ran out of the room after that, not letting him reply, nor looking back, Dropping the staff on her way out with the plates.

He stared at the door she slammed shut on her way out

"w-was it something I said?" he mumbled then looked down to the dropped weapon. Picking it up gently

It really was beautiful, the symmetrical crystal acting like a prism, casting a rainbow down on the floor as it refracted the light of the florescent lighting of his room.

He sighed looking down at it.

_Creation like creator._

He started blushing, remembering her determined face during the creation process of the staff he was holding in his hands now.

It was an ethereal sight; Her forging something into existence, bending the molecules to her will.

He shook his head, trying to dispel the thought

_No stop that_

He placed the staff on his desk, leaning back and enjoying its beauty

He ruffled his own hair

_…_

_Fuck_

* * *

Someone knocked on his door as he was sketching out a bust of Momo creating a pole with the same ethereal expression she had, along with a blushing Shoko

"who is it?" he asked not paying attention, he was in the zone

"It's Mina"

Well that took him out of it as he slammed his sketchbook shut and went to answer the door

"Ashido- how can I help you?" he asked politely trying to suppress the blush already forming, his mind immediately recalling the events at the changing rooms. _Do not think about her leopard-print bra and panti-_

_FUCK_

"hey Midori- mind if I come in?" she asked as hyper as ever, seemingly unaffected by the events of today, keeping her hands behind her.

"s-sure" he took a step to his right

She practically burst in after that running up and down his room, checking every poster she could. Which was a lot. "woaaaaah you really decked it out Midori~" she teased?

It was hard to tell with how happy she sounded

"t-thanks Ashido" he mumbled looking away

"geez, you already saw me almost naked just call me Mina- and I'll call you I-zu-ku~," she said spinning on her heel and staring at him with half lidded eyes and a happy smile

"oh ok," he mumbled, looking to the side and blushing- apparently, she shared Mei's passion of disrespecting personal space.

Then what she said registered

"waIT WHAT"

She didn't let him continue and started laughing "oh- oh, you took the bait- your face-" she continued laughing doubling over, dropping something on the floor "Izuku you are the best" she managed to add between fits of laughter

His blush was nearing neon- and he should have been mad but, she looked too happy so he just huffed and looked to the side, causing her to laugh more.

Then his attention turned to the dropped object- his school uniform, what he had left in the lockers when he was fleeing.

"You brought it back?" he asked crouching down and picking up the garment

"well yeah-" she mumbled, now she was blushing. _Oh- she blushes slightly purple that's adorable _"someone had to, but most were either too flustered or too 'that's his personal locker I cant go there' about it" she mumbled looking away

"Iida was gonna, but she had to go and tell a teacher about it" she finished still looking away

"sorry for going through your stuff"

She- she was guilty about this? "Ashido seriously, thank you- I had forgotten all about this."

"cause' you were too busy thinking about our hot bodies, weren't you?" she shot back, a sly smile erupting from her previous forlorn expression

His face flushed hard enough that he started hearing his heart in his ears

"I- I- I-"

"I mean, I can't blame you but its not that gentlemanly is it?" she started walking towards him, adding a sway to her hips and licking her lips "And its not like-" she reached up and hugged his neck "I wouldn't have shown you if you just asked~" Her gold irises met his emerald

He was suddenly very grateful Total Command had eliminated the possibility of getting erections without his will.

"Ashido-" he mumbled and looked away

She started laughing "oh- god you fell for it again- your face-"

_Oh that is it_

He picked her up easily and she struggled against him, still laughing like crazy "No- wait Izuku I want to tease you mo-"

He placed her outside of his room and smiled an empty smile at her "thanks for bringing my stuff back"

She pouted at him "you're no fun"

"Oh I think you had your fun" he replied waiting for her to start walking away

"you know- I know something else that's very fu-"

He slammed his door shut

"Meanie"

* * *

He huffed after the door closed

It had been a long day

_I hope tomorrow isn't as bad_


	16. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

"OOOoo what about giant gauntlets on your hero suit?" asked her best friend, Izuku

She smirked "of course, the villain needs to know their end is near when they face me" she looked at the scribble he was working on "is that supposed to be my costume?" she asked

He smiled and pulled the paper up "yeah- gauntlets that looks like gre- greana-"

"grenades? Awesomeee" his smile turned a little prouder "that'll intimidate them, if they have time before I bash their heads in"

"yeah, you'll show All those villains what for!" He chirped, the words sounding too grown up for his 4-year-old body, it wasn't like her own way of speaking matched her age either.

"YEAH! I'll Kill them All"

"and I'll be right at your side!"

Her face twitched

"…yeaH! Izuku and Katsumi- the tag team heroes!"

* * *

Her eyes opened softly, staring at the still unfamiliar ceiling of her dorm-room, she rubbed her head, could already feel the headache coming.

_Why did I-_

She sat up and looked at the poster Izuku had given her on her birthday

_Why did I dream about that again?_

She huffed and got up, shedding her sleepwear, a white tank-top and panties, anything more made her sweat, and she had too many prior sleep-explosions for that to be safe.

_Why am I still stuck up on the past?_

She scowled while putting on her school uniform

* * *

She didn't pay attention to class, most was just introducing the syllabus anyway. Her eyes landed on his back and she was glaring holes through it.

_How did we get here?_

He didn't seem to notice it, nor was she wanting for him to notice. She needed time to think

_If only I-_

She shook her head

_No, I couldn't have known._

* * *

Older kids were starting to talk about him, her friend, the only guy in the neighborhood.

She didn't like their tone of voice

"did you see the boy in the apartment complex?"

"yeah, he was playing heroes and villains, right?"

"yeah- its so cute he thinks he could be either"

Her hands sparked.

_No, he can- he's smart as hell- not having a quirk wont stop him_

_…_

_He has too much drive for it to stop him_

Her face soured, and the explosions on her fingertips stopped

…

The next day she managed to see something she shouldn't have- not when she was 4.

It was a newsreel, talking about the latest murdered hero.

Suddenly something clicked in her head.

Heroes throw their life on the line; Every. Goddamn. Day.

And even trained pro's with impressive quirks died on the field.

_I can handle that- my quirk Is awesome-_

_But-_

She knew about this. She knew about deaths in the field before but-

It was never so blunt and in her face before.

It made her think about Izuku, her friend.

The only friend that seemed to truly believe she could be a great hero.

_But can he?_

She was overthinking now- of all the ways something could go wrong. And seeing him die.

_…_

* * *

Her eyebrow twitched when hero art history started. Midnight was a lot more flustered than she was on Tv.

It didn't fit her hero persona. And the way her gaze was skipping over Izuku was highly suspect.

_What the fuck is going on?_

Izuku seemed to be stiffer than usual too, shoulders hunched and face on the desk, trying to hide his head with his arms

_What the _**_fuck_ **_is going on?_

* * *

She panted, tears on the corner of her eyes.

She had done it. Beaten the shit out of that older kid that was smack-talking Izuku behind his back, calling him mentally challenged for wanting to be a hero, saying that he was a living mistake for existing.

Now she wasn't saying anything about him, while down on the ground beaten by Katsumi, who hadn't come out unscathed, that didn't matter however. She had won.

Now to make sure this villain would never do something like this again.

She started walking towards the downed and teary-eyed girl

"Kacchan stop!"

Izuku was in front of her, arms open in defense of this, _filth. _He was panting, clearly had run there after hearing the explosions

"Get out of the way Izuku- she needs to learn-" _why is he here- he should know I wouldn't go that far._

He shook his head "she's crying already- a hero wouldn't do this. Kacchan please-"

* * *

The adrenaline in her body made her do something she still regretted, but in the end, she thought it was necessary. She was unsure of it now in UA

* * *

"How would you know- you'll never be a hero" _for long_

He stilled- hands dropping to his sides "w-what are you talking about kacchan? We're going to be heroes together, right?"

Her hands were shaking "you are too weak to be a Hero Izuku. Now stop standing in my way"

She shoved passed him.

He grabbed onto her wrist "Kacchan- you don't think that do you?"

She twirled around and nearly smacked him "no you are the one that doesn't think, how do you think you are going to be a hero without a quirk huh?"

_You'll get killed- please_

"I- I don't Know but I'll do it!" he responded, voice cracking.

_I know this was always your dream but- please._

The older kid had fled while the children started arguing.

"Oh yeah? What's going to be your Hero name? Deku? The hero that cant do anything to help himself?" anger had started boiling in her, anger towards how stubborn he was.

"Ka- Kacchan that's mean…"

_does he think I'm just saying these to be mean? Doesn't he think?_

"It's the fucking truth, Deku, you need to fucking face it." She was sounding like her mother- hopefully, that made him realize how childish he was being.

Her mother always kept her out of trouble, so he would realize she was trying to do the same for him, right?

He didn't and started crying.

"how the hell are you going to be a hero if this little makes you cry?" she almost screamed.

She hated seeing him like this.

"I'll do it- I'll be a hero just like you will-"

He was cut off by a blast that was a little too strong "BUT YOU CANT- YOU ARE NOTHING LIKE ME, YOU DON'T HAVE POWERS. IT'S USELESS"

He fell on his ass and scrambled away from her "but- but"

she was talking to a wall.

She clicked her tongue, annoyed out of her mind and walked away, leaving him on the ground.

_I thought that would have kept you safe._

_But you never listened._

* * *

Katsumi and Izuku were- different from other people, that much everyone knew.

Inko and Mitsuki were happy how well they got along, especially since they both were too smart for their peers, in addition of; Izuku too shy and Katsumi too... hot-headed, making them isolated among other kids their age.

They were on the same wavelength. Always in sync.

But that argument un-synced them, causing them to start clashing every other day.

Their mothers noticed it of course, how could they not see them drifting apart like that- the only problem was they didn't know why it was happening.

Izuku just started showing up with minor bruising that disappeared too fast for it to be an actual concern and patches of slightly red skin which Inko swore that there were minor burns. Which, again, disappeared before she could question them.

It was maddening- but Izuku never told her what was going on. She had suspected his, now distant, friend but he swore up and down she had nothing to do with it. So Inko stood there boiling with worry and concern, not sure just what to do.

Katsumi just felt worse and worse about the whole ordeal- she wasn't going to back down now as his Hero talk started to diminish.

It was working.

She was doing all of this to keep him safe.

To keep him from harm's way.

She hated every moment of it.

* * *

He was done with life right now. Katsumi was daydreaming about something behind him, and from her glare, he was fearing she was thinking about ways to kill him.

And Professor Kayama wasn't helping either- Just her flustered expression was reminding him of yesterday, her touch on his body-

He slapped his own scalp as he hid his face, his classmates turned to look at him but then they went back to staring at Midnight- probably guessing this was just his reaction to seeing a woman of her caliber.

Ochako was feeling jealous over the reaction Midnight was getting out of him, _why can't he get that bashful with me? _She shook her head _woah where did that come from?_

Midnight nearly dashed out of the room when the bell rung, leaving the class to their own devices.

"...well she's definitely in a hurry" Mina huffed and turned to Izuku "you can relax now, she left"

She laughed when he hissed and fixed his posture "yeah, yeah- It's lunch time isn't it?"

"It is? Awesome- let's go Izuku!" she didn't care about his objections as she dragged him out, the rest of the class following the two

_When did those two get so close? _Was the unanimous question that went through their heads-

Not that it mattered, with yesterday's half day no one had actually tried the cafeteria food- well except Izuku who had admitted to working here,

So the whole class 1-A was going to ask for his opinion

* * *

"who's going to be teaching this one?" Kyoka asked, bored out of her mind. Whoever the teacher was, was running late

"If she doesnt show up in 15 minutes we can leave right?" Doi asked with some hope in her voice

Mina uttered out a "yeah" only for it to be shot down by Tomoyo with a solemn shake of her head "the system said it was to be announced, and it still hasn't updated, this reflects badly on the image of the number one hero Universit-"

"I AM" someone screamed from outside

Izuku stiffened- _It can't be_

He booked to the window and slid the panel open, barely before someone burst in from the, now open, window.

"HERE"

The number one hero rose up from her graceful landing, standing proudly

"Oh- sorry thought the window was propped open"

"You can't be serious-" Kyoka's eyes widened

"Oi Oi- is All might our teacher? She's so manly!" Eiko cheered- Hana just looked at her with a 'what does that even mean' look

"Isn't that her silver age costume?" Tsuyu muttered finger on her chin,

Makaira nodded "its style is so different from the new costumes, it's giving me chills"

"Sorry for being late class, was doing heroics" All might bellowed with laughter "but now that's over with, it's time for your first heroics course exercise; Combat training"

"First things first- your hero Costumes" The number one hero continued, shooting Izuku a look

He didn't react, but understood it, _don't let them know that we know each other_

All might walked up the teacher's podium, opened up a drawer and picked up a remote and a notebook, clicking the device

With a whirr the side of the class popped open in 5 rows, revealing 20 compartments with 19 boxes in them.

The hero costumes.

The students cheered- then noticed something-

19 boxes, 20 students.

"Midoriya?- why is your box missing-" Tomoyo was the one to notice just who was missing their suit, first to get over her excitement and look at the man in question

"Well- you know how costumes are requested from the Government right-"

Her eyes widened- _of course, the government probably didn't recognize him._

"Well I cant register my quirk, there is a lot of bureaucratic 'yellow tape' from me doing so" he rubbed the back of his head "its a gift and a curse really"

"**N͕͝o̲̎t ̳̇f̫̑or͗͢ ͌͜long**" came a modulated voice, as the class door opened revealing the mechanical copy of All might, same suit and all.

Some dropped into fighting stances, some looked terrified.

_Well I can understand that reaction, _Izuku sweatdropped 

**" O̲͆h-͙͛ r͚̃ig̔ͅh͎͗t, Ha͍̓̇͟v̧̢̗̋̊̄ͅe͕̹̽̅ ͚͋F̗̻͕̒̿͞é͖a̜͙͂̌͂͢r ̱͋f̫̀o̦̯̾͋r͙̐ ̞̰͕̓͂̏Ȋ̯ ̡͋a̦m͇̕ eͅṽ̧̦͓͊͝er̡͓̪̎͆̕y̛̭ŵ̨̩͇̽͘h̛̟̜̣̝̎͑̚e̱͋r̢̗̟̍̈́͞ḙ̡͙̾̓̈,̛̠͓͍̊͝ ̫̍or͙̉ wh̥̋atë̹́v͈͋e͈̓r͚̃**

Makaira shuddered "nevermind, I'm getting the chills now"

"**M̞ǒ̱th̄͜er së́͜nd̪̀s̺̐ ͙͒her̺͆ reg͖͌å͖rd͎̊s**" the mech responded, bringing his attention to the box it was holding.

_Mother? Is that an Alien reference? _Mina thought, turning to the mech, then to Izuku who looked excited as a puppy about to go on a walk

"Oh my god- she made it!" he chirped and ran up to the mech, grabbing the box out of his hands.

"**Of̪̂ coȕ͎rs̠̚e ͇̈́s̩h̠̓e̙̔ ̟̎di̦͠d- t͙͗ho͇̎ugh ̭̒she ḋ̹i̠͐dn'̞̋t ̺̽g̢͝et̥͋ ̠̽s̞̎leë̲p ̪͋t͔͛h̳͘i̜̚ś̳ ̧ni͈̔g͚̊ht̞͑**" the machine hummed

Everyone else started staring at the weird conversation going on between the All might doppelganger and the resident man of the class

All might coughed "well- if that's everyone, let's go out for the class, shall we?"

"**M̝̍i̗͗nd͜͡ If̨̕ ͜͞I̟̍ ͛͜t̹ä͜g̜̿ ā̡l̳̇on̯̈g̩̚? Mot̤ḣ̜eȑ̦ woul̚͜d̻͌ ͈͑w̹͗ant̪̆ ̫͘ǎ̲ r̤̎ecording͔͛ ôͅf ̝̊t̹͐h̞̔e̡͠ ͙̚s̺͌u̫͞i͋͜t'̔͟s first ̢̇o̯̔ȕ͎t͕̿in͎̅g**"

"Sure- I don't see an issue with tha- wait, who is this 'mother' you keep referring to?" All might asked turning to the machine

"Oh- Hatsume Mei from the support course" Izuku responded for the mech "She had- at least I believe she had- express permission from Power-loader and principal Nozomi to build my suit"

"Ah- I see" All might hummed _knowing Nozomi she would have halted everything already if she didn't give permission_

"Ok sure you can come along, a T.A. would be useful anyhow-"

The mech gave the number one hero a thumbs up

"...you know those days where you are like 'this might as well happen?'" Kyoka started "I feel like that's going to be our every day from now on"

The rest of the class, except Izuku who was twisting the box in his hands excitedly, nodded and headed towards the changing rooms

* * *

Izuku was glad to see the wall between the rooms was mended with- what seemed to be Cementoss's help, the new cement wall stood where the previous wall had been, not painted over just yet.

"Ok let's see-" he popped open the box and looked in.

A note from Mei greeted him 'Power loader told me you buffed up during one of your attacks tearing off your shirt in the process- so I had to scrap a large bit of the design- this should flex along with your body so no more top-less Zuku - wouldn't want to give the girls a show right?~'

He blushed- _that- goddammit Mei_

He pulled out the gauntlets and placed em to the side, seeing the actual suit underneath

It was a green and white wetsuit- with black highlights

_GOD DAMMIT MEI_

* * *

"Ugh- should have specified that I didn't want skin-tight latex on my costume" Ochako whined, shifting from one foot to the other

"I say it helps with the 'astronaut' motif you have" Tomoyo hummed, voice muffled by her metal helmet.

"And I say it brings out your figure and Midoriya is going to enjoy that" Tsuyu added, causing the gravity nullifying hero to start blushing

"W-what are you talking about Tsuyu"

"Ribbit"

The conversation suddenly made Momo self-conscious about how much skin she was showing-

_H-he knows I need the exposed skin for my quirk right?- he wouldn't assume I just- wore this to get his attention-_

_right?_

* * *

He was the last one to the field, the rest of the girls watched him enter-

Minerva and Tsuyu started salivating.

His suit hugged his body tightly, the black highlights only exasperating how toned his body was, thankfully Mei had added in white cargo pants with supplies in the pockets to cover his lower body. under the pants, he had heavy-duty knee-high steel-tipped red boots. The silver angular tips glinting in the sunlight along with the large iridescent green gauntlets on his forearms.

He blushed as the crowd started staring at him. Scratching his head with his gauntlet-clad hands in embarrassment.

Mecha might clicked and gave a thumbs-up, All might whistled.

The rest of the girls stared.

"Holy shit-" Kyoka muttered the rest just nodded along

"Hero course is the best" Minerva mumbled, eliciting another nod from Doi and Tsuyu.

"Well that's everyone-" All might cleared her throat, "they say the clothes make the man- and today ladies- and gentleman- you are true heroes."

The class managed to tear their sight away from Izuku after that, turning to stare at both Might's

"Did you download the script yet?" All might turned to her mechanical counter-part

"**Dow̢̚n͙͒lo̺̍ad͖̏ ̺̍co̞̽mp̣͛l̡̂etẹ̀; ̡í͉n̚ͅï̫tiating̗̀ cla̹͒ss̺̒**" the machine hummed

_You gotta be kidding me _Izuku almost facepalmed. _Pushing the speaking roles to the machine?_

"**Mỏ̭st ͒͢vi͛͢l̻̒lä́ͅȉ͟n̼͐ ̤͌fi̦͆g̳̈hts ̳̉h̤̎ap̂͟pe̤̓n ơ͇ut̛̥sȉ͕d̰̉e͟, t̢̅hat ̰̆i̮̋s ̂͢wh͍͆á͙t is ̧̏ṱ͞h̿͟o͕͆u͖͛g̠̓ht by̬̾ ͖͊ci̼͑vi̼͡l͍͘į͋an̂͢s̝̈-̤͡ ͎̉ho͡ͅw͘ͅever̹̀ w͓̉hen̙̔ y̧̆o͚̕u ͇̀ac͖͋t͍͒ů̜a̝̐l͈̇ĺ͙y̝͆ cȟ͙ec̯͝k t̩͑ḩ̈e͍̅ ̖͗nŭ͈mb͈͝er͎̃s y͖̑ó̭u fin͢d ö̭ṳt ̜̂the̖͌ m̗̌ost̃ͅ ̞̔v̺̉i̗͒ll̼̕ain ͎̍activi̜͒t̫͞y ͑͢h̲͆a̩͊p̥pè̠ns ͇͋b̝͑e̞̊hind̩̈ c̲̊l͙͌o̬̽ș̓ed͙͂ d̘̓õ͟ơ̡r͎͗s.****" **Mecha might droned

**"** Yes, in this world full of Heroes, the smart villains know that they need to hide in the shadows **" **All might added

"**Ṯ̋odả͉y̯ you͔͑ wil̖̉l͉͋ ̩̔hä̩vë͉́ y͚̐our̭ ̰̑f̪͗irs̖̊t coṃ̃bat test in s̻̏ṷ͑ch ̯̌a ̞̒s͕͒cenar͓͠io̬̕- y̗̑o̪̊u wiḽ͗l ̹̇b̪͋e͎͑ ̼̚sp͚̀l̲̓it ụ̕p ̘̋into ͌͜4͙̕ t̘̕ea͢͞ms ͚͑ò̟f 5 ̤̅pi̛̗c̛̦ke͖̋d̝͌ b̼̐y̼͋ ̣̆lo̲͡t̢̀t͖̔ery-̢́**" the bot finished

All might rubbed her nose proudly- _This teaching thing is easy_

"Isn't that a little reckless- random choice?" Tomoyo hummed, hand shooting up mechanically

**"I̱t̝͛ is̹̽ ͙̃t̟ỏ̳" **"Its probably to stimulate the random team's heroes need to form out in the field on occasion" Izuku answered

Mecha might stared at him

**"Y̢̛̗͚̗͕͚̆̅͋̅̅͐͜e̮̯̎̄s̺̖̪̉̏͆͜͝-̲̓ w̩̺͔͉̑̈͗͐̍͜h̢̞͉̻́̓͗̀́͢a̹̕t͈̝̳̯̙̭̐͊̑̐͗͡ ḥ̝̐͟ȇ̡̘͎̼̼̲͍͉̉͆̽͑̒̓̅ ̗̉ŝ̘a̹̭̿̊i̯͉͓͈͑͗̋̂͢͞d̼̲̬̎̔̅͘͜"**

_Did- did he get mad because I interrupted him? Just how much AI does he have in there? _

"My apologies" Tomoyo bowed

"No need, no need, it was a smart question- now it's time for the lottery-" All might started pulling out balls from the box set-up

"Team A; Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyoka, Ashido Mina, Yayorozoru Momo, Midoriya Izuku"

Team A all stiffened,

Izuku slowly turned to see their suits- skin-tight catsuit for Ochako- red leotard for Momo, and a punk jacket for Kyoka. He didn't even know how to describe what Mina was wearing - _Yeah Imma die_

Momo and Ochako were screaming internally about how He was going to be in close proximity to them in these clothes, Kyoka about where to look on him while talking-

Mina just smirked- _more chances to have fun_

**"Tẽ͎am̨̄ B͉͌; ͇̄O̱͛i̺͞j̘̃i͕͛r̼̽o Makaiř̯ã͉ ͔̈,͢Sato Rik̗͛ku̙͡, ͕͠Kö̼́da͕ ̯Kan̼̑na,̖̈ K̩̍am̑͟inar͉͂ḯ͟ ̜́Do̹͆i̱͛, ̮̑Å̱s͚͌ṷ̀i ͊͟Ts̪̚ṳ̓yu** **"**

"Team C:Yui Aoyama, Eiko Kirishima,Fumiko Tokoyami,Minerva Mineta, Hakagure Tooru"

"**T̻͌eam ̩̈́D̼̈́:͎͑ Ḃ̙ak̨̑ug͇̈o̯̕ű̗ K̜̇a̺͆t̫̆s̱͌um̗͞i, Ị͡ida ̯̈Ṯ͌ơ͜moy͇͊o,͖̒ T̫̽o͇͊d̥̽oro͖͘kĭ̜ ̀ͅS̳͑h͙̏ō͜ko͕̕,̗̂ ͍͋Sho͓͘ji ̥̕M̆͟a̭̿i,̙̕ ̓ͅSe͎̾ro Han̯̋a̫̔****"**

All-might switched boxes "First fight- Team A as heroes vs Team D as villains"

Katsumi and Izuku's eyes met.

_Oh no-_

it was time for another clash.


	17. Or maybe we'll be entwined

He took a few deep breaths, his metabolism starting to pick up the pace; he was going to need every bit of it.

"Izuku, you alright?" Mina asked the only one in the group who wasn't averting her gaze from him.

He nodded. "Just- letting my body prepare for the fight- It's going to be tough." The rest nodded with him.

_The other team has; Kacchan, Shoko and Iida- all powerhouses in their own right: Kacchan and Shoko having raw power- and Kacchan and Iida having high mobility. _He scratched his chin. _Not to mention with Sero they have a lot of trap potential, considering her quirk- that tape was hard to get out of-_

The girls just started staring at him mumbling up a storm.

_Can't forget about Shoji- with her dupli-arms she is physically strong- and if I remember it right she had said something about copying organs- so she could track us easily by duplicating sensory organs-_

"D-Deku- you are doing it again." Ochako waved her hand in front of him- finally bringing him out of his muttering spree.

"Oh- right, sorry just… trying to process," he said aloud, voice monotone and eyes blank.

"W-well that's good," Kyoka huffed, trying to look cool and keep her eyes on his face. _Did his suit have to be so tight? _"Means you got a plan- right, Green?"

That got him out of his trance fully- he looked to either side, face dumbfounded. "What- no, no Yaoyorozu should plan- I'm better at analyzing-"

Momo shook her head. "Your skills in analysis is why you are the best to plan for this- besides" she fidgeted a bit "If you come up with other ways to use our quirks- that we haven't shown in the test yesterday- we would have the upper hand- right?"

He could hear something in her voice- but his mind was too preoccupied to notice what that was.

"Ok-" he breathed, trying to calm down.

"I might have- 80% of a plan."

The girls leaned in...

* * *

The villain team was a mess-

"What do you mean 'I don't have a plan,' shitty two-tone?" Katsumi hissed, "Weren't you trained by Endeavour? Aren't you a Todoroki?" She barked taking a step forward. _The hell-_

"I am not using anything that _person _gave me." Shoko spat; the air of the bomb-room chilling with her words. "And I do have a plan now, just stand here and freeze them on the spot the moment they barge in through the door."

Tomoyo nodded "That is a good plan, we should stand steady and prepare our stronghold for attack" With Tomoyo won over the other two nodded along.

"I'll try to hear them come close with my dupli-ears."

"And I'll tape the doors down so they can't get in without adding considerable force- making them bigger targets for-" Hana looked over to Shoko "-you to freeze over, Shoko."

She nodded in response.

"That is fucking idiotic-" Katsumi huffed. "I'm going out to end all of this before they even get here."

Tomoyo was about to retort but stopped when Shoko raised her hand.

"Just report back when you see them," she said, voice cold and emotionless.

"AND START!" All Might's voice resonated from the speakers.

"Yeah, I'll report back when I kill them all."

_Kill? _The rest, excluding Shoko, thought.

* * *

All Might chuckled, watching the feed as Izuku pulled out an assortment of pieces from his pockets and assembled a mouth-guard, angular and silver, slightly resembling her own smile.

"**Thã͟t͈̋ m̪̾ȯ̪uthgua̚͢r͜͡ḍ͐ ̻͒ḥ̾ą̓s̜̋ c̞͠h̥͌a̫̓rcoal͔̊ fil̬̎t̪̐e̎͜rs̝̚ and ̣͂sē̗veral ̘͆f̥̾a̡ns̤̾ ̼̄insi̤̍de to ̘͑kȅ͎ep up̙̄ w͇͘i͛͟th hi̹̽s ac͒ͅc̪̏ẽ͢ļ̍era̡̐ted̳̏ b̬̓r̝͞eậthiṉ͡g,****" **Mecha-Might announced from her side.

"Oh?" All Might turned to the source of the mechanical voice. "Anything else you wanna tell me?"

**"E͙͠n̨̔joy thę͠ m̭̎a̡s̳̅s̥͘a̲͡c̱̈re͚.̫̃"**

The other 10 students watching along shivered.

_Can you stop being creepy for __5 minutes __?_

* * *

Katsumi's comms came to life. "Bakugou, its Mai- thought you might wanna know that I can hear some shuffling coming from the Eastern corner of the ground floor- the Heroes have entered the building."

She smirked.

She jumped down the stairwell. Using a large explosion to twist her downward velocity to forward momentum, hitting the ground running and racing to the location to catch them off guard.

Her heart was pounding in her ears.

_They just entered the building._

Her pace didn't slow down. Her jog was making her sweat- and that was fueling her quirk.

_This could be a trap._

She shook her head-

_No, even then, I can turn the tables._

_Plus, the only planner that could make this count would be him-_

_But knowing him- he'll probably just let someone else plan it._

_He always chased me- even after all I did to him._

_He isn't a leader._

_He is a follower._

She saw the door of the entry room.

_It's either the full group. Or just one person- either way, I need to strike now. _

_Before he gets a chance to scheme..._

She kicked the door down to the room in the east corner.

Shoko and the rest didn't hear back from her again.

* * *

"Yaoyorozu- you can create electronics right?" The calm, calculated tone he used helped the rest of the team to relax somewhat.

She nodded. "I know enough about tech and the molecular structure of microchips to create basic electronics- nothing more complicated than a laptop, however-"

"Why- planning on creating a lure?"

He nodded- "well more like a trap..."

* * *

"They split apart?" Eiko asked, looking at the screen.

"It would be easier to find the opposing team with scouts in the complex." Fumiko hummed.

"Yeah, but doesn't that decrease their combat effectiveness?" the red-haired girl shot back.

"While that is true, that would have mattered if the teams split differently- they didn't, they should be equal-" her avian-headed classmate answered.

"They aren't..." All-might breathed, causing them all to stiffen.

"But- It's just Bakugou against Mina- 1 vs 1- isn't that equal?" Tooru asked, shocked.

"Of course not- Bakugou is better at combat than Mina-" Doi said nonchalantly.

No one responded.

"Right?"

* * *

_Oh._

_Shit._

Katsumi didn't have time to dodge as Mina set loose a torrent of viscous acid, clipping her in the hands, sticking onto the porous fabric like glue.

It was not burning through her gloves, _thank God._

"Izuku said that should lock you down for a while- wanna party?"

"I'll kill you dead." She hissed and dropped to a combat stance.

"He said you'd say that, too." The pink-skinned girl dropped to her own.

* * *

"Bakugou? Bakugou-" Mai gave up on the comms. "She's not coming in, might have been taken out?"

"No way-" Hana huffed, "We would have heard at least one explosion- right?"

"Right- you hearing anything, Shoji?" Tomoyo said, looking to her ally.

"Nothing other than the same shuffling in the East corner- it's getting a little louder?- Maybe they are fighting there?"

"Mayb-" Shoko's words died in her throat as someone knocked on the west entrance door.

"The pizza you ordered is here."

They all turned to the source.

Ochako dropped from the ceiling, grabbing onto Tomoyo and negating her weight, making her legs and quirk useless.

The rest of the villain team didn't have time to react to that loss.

" Pneumatic Lance "

The south door flew off its frame, slamming into Mai, causing her and the door to crash into Hana, knocking them both out on impact.

"Knock knock," Ochako breathed, smiling.

Shoko pivoted on her left leg, lifting her right to turn towards the disturbance-

"NOW!" Izuku screamed, and the west door got blown off its hinges by a series of door charges.

"Hi," Jirou smirked, next to Momo, who was holding a taser-gun.

"Bye."

Shoko couldn't react before the prongs of the taser struck true on her skin and she fell down, muscles spasming as her body failed her.

* * *

"T.A.," All Might announced, brow sweating "Remind me to never let Midoriya and Yaoyorozu be in the same team..."

"**Rem̠inde̫͝r set.****"**

The number one hero rubbed her forehead.

_This kid is going to be the death of me._

* * *

7 minutes earlier:

"Split us up- Why?-" Momo asked Izuku "Wouldn't that just make it harder for us to coordinate our attack?"

He turned to her. "Well- yeah, but the other team won't be cohesive enough to make that count. Kacchan will definitely splinter; She knows that she is enough for any situation."

They didn't like the way he phrased that.

"But that knowledge clouds her sight. I doubt that she even knows or cares about her teammates' quirks, let alone ours. We have the perfect counter."

They all looked at him.

"I-It's not me- She is too agile for me to take down easily." His eyes locked onto Mina's. "It's you Ashido, your Acid can counter her."

"We are not dousing our classmate in acid-" Momo hissed with fear in her eyes. _I mean it could work-_

"No- God no, of course not!" He shook his head "Her sweat is the fuel for her explosions, just coating her hands with viscous and diluted acid would be enough to lock it down."

"Sure- I _could _do that- But then what, start a slugfest?" Mina mumbled, a hint of doubt in her voice.

"She will probably make a fast entrance, that's your only chance to douse her, there should be a beat where she is dumbfounded to see you there instead of us all..."

Mina breathed a bit easier. "Alright, but _then _what?"

"Just keep her busy long enough for us to get into position- about 3 minutes, give or take? You should be fine since both her fighting style and movement are completely based around her quirk." He shifted to look at Ochako.

"Uraraka- your maximum was 5 tons right?" She nodded stiffly. "And you get stomach aches when you use it on yourself?" She nodded again.

"Yaoyorozu, can you make some car-sickness tablets?"

_Uh- " _I don't think so? I mean-" _Why- why didn't I try that?_

_" _I remember you saying you could create anything as long as its non-living, so that would include complex organic molecules, right?- you can create plastic after all..."

She rubbed her forehead. _He's right, dammit..._

_" _You wouldn't happen to have the formula on you would you?" She asked Izuku.

His gauntlets blinked to life "Should have a data-bank in here-" the structure and the chemical formula of Dimenhydrinate popped up in the circular screen of the gauntlet "-there it is."

Momo looked over the formula and tried creating the complex organic molecule-

And again, just like yesterday; it worked.

_I need a training session with Izuku at this point… _She mumbled, blushing lightly.

She passed the tablet to him, who passed it to Ochako.

* * *

2 minutes later:

"Ok, let's go."

Kyouka plugged herself to the building and forced her heartbeat into it. The vibration frequency high enough for normal people to not hear it.

But they were still there.

" Bio-sonar " the gauntlet announced, the gloves folding away as Izuku placed his hands on the wall.

"Central room of the top floor, 4 people." The gauntlets closed up again.

"Plan A is a go."

Ochako tapped Kyouka and Momo, and, after a brief hesitation, herself.

For the first time, she didn't get the pit in her stomach and _enjoyed _weightlessness.

That enjoyment doubled when Izuku gently grabbed them all by their wrists; and jumped.

"Let's cause some chaos~" Mina giggled and headed to the east corner.

* * *

With the weightless mass of 3 other people attached to him, Izuku landed soundlessly in the rooftop.

"Turn on the noise cancellers-" he announced softly. Momo nodded and produced two specialized speakers from her shoulders. They were designed to produce the inverse wavelength of sound to anything its internal microphones picked up. In theory, they would muffle any minor sounds they made.

He opened the roof access and pulled everyone in.

Ochako quickly tapped him too and grabbed a noise canceller, heading to the vents.

The others kicked off the walls softly and got into position.

Izuku turned off the announcements in his gauntlets for a second to use his sonar again, to see where everyone was standing.

"I'm in position," Ochako's hushed voice came through the comms.

"The bomb is out of my reach; Iida is the only target I can get to..."

"That's more than enough, Jirou, cause the distraction."

"Pizza time," Kyouka mumbled, Momo turning their noise canceller off.

_Seriously? I thought she was joking about using that as the distraction..._

* * *

Katsumi barely ducked back as Mina's foot whizzed past where her head had just been.

_Fuck._

She took a few hops back and tried to set her hands off to no avail; She couldn't get a spark to ignite the nitroglycerin that was her sweat.

Mina, on the other hand, was using her quirk to skate around on the floor with ease, shortening the distance between them in an instant.

"What's wrong blasty- can't blow up?" she kicked again, Katsumi blocked with her gauntlet.

_He fucking planned for this._

Her eyes hardened. _Need a distraction. Just for a second. _"But he didn't plan for you to talk my head off."

Mina's eyes widened. _What is she-_

At the moment she flinched Katsumi delivered a solid haymaker to her gut, her slick feet did not give her the grip she needed to counterbalance, and she fell on her ass and tumbled back, the breath knocked out of her.

The acid users smile vanished as she coughed a bit trying to get air back inside her. "Y-you punch hard..."

"No more talking." Katsumi grabbed onto the grenades on her belt. The ones Izuku had designed on that page she stole all those months ago.

"W-wha- "

She pressed the top button and the grenades hissed and blew up in her hands.

Mina listened in abject horror as something splattered around the room, her vision blocked by the smoke of the explosion.

She didn't get to scream before an explosion-powered fist slammed into her stomach, putting her out of commission completely.

Katsumi rose back up and shook her gloved hands, still feeling some of the gunk that had previously covered them. Thankfully her grenades had blown off enough of it for her to function properly again.

_If she is here-_

Katsumi set her hands loose again, rocketing towards the center of the building.

_fuuUUUUUCK!_

She made it to the center of the building, directly under where she thought the bomb-room was and raised her palm, placing her other thumb in the middle of it.

"Hope this works," She breathed and screamed out the attack's name.

* * *

"Whew- That was easy- you were exaggerating Green." Kyoka sighed.

Izuku stepped into the room, towards the faux nuke. "It's not done ye-"

"HOLLOW-POINT!"

_Oh no._

Both man and bomb got engulfed in a ground-shattering explosion, the rest of the conscious students hid their faces from the ensuing spike in heat and airborne shrapnel.

Being at the epicenter of the blast meant he had barely a second to see just what happened.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down, and the ground around him crackled and bulged slightly, a large U-shaped explosion blowing through around him, kicking up enough dust to hide him from the rest of his team.

The ground, not designed to hold up itself with just one corner, gave way under his weight, and he began to free-fall down to the ground floor as a secondary blast separated him from the bomb.

He righted himself and crash-landed on the ground floor, his gauntlets leaving huge craters as he slammed them down to eat away at the momentum from his massive fall.

The bomb landed behind a scowling Katsumi, rocking slightly before coming to rest.

Izuku rose back up, his joints cracking into place as his gaze landed on her.

She hesitated.

Her memories of their childhood came rushing back, giving her emotional whiplash "You really think it was going to be that easy, Izuku?" she growled, eyes locked on his.

His expression hardened. "You should try something other than using my given name to throw me off kilter, Kacchan."

The blond raced to him and threw a punch, which he caught easily before it made contact, his eyebrow raised "-Are -are you going easy on me?- After all this time?"

She gritted her teeth and kicked off him, his body not even budging as she wrenched her fist from his grasp. "Fuck you, fight back."

He looked at her curiously, "What is this. Your apology for doing what you did?" Features hardening, he dropped to his fighting stance. "'Cause I don't need it."

She blasted towards him, aiming to drop-kick him in the chest, only for him to side-step and grab her outstretched arm. With a twist, he turned her own momentum against the would-be missile, slamming her down on the ground.

She coughed, the breath knocked out of her.

He was starting to get pissed.

"We both know you are better than this- why are you doing this. Is it to mock me?" he spat, eyes flaring.

She rose to her feet, not meeting his gaze. "Just touch the bomb- be done with it."

His eyes widened. "Who are you and what did you do with Katsumi?"

"Shut the Fuck up Deku, just do it-"

He didn't take a single step.

"JUST FUCKING DO IT!" She tried hard to hide the slight tremble in her voice.

"I am not a _goddamn _charity case- I thought you knew that," he said back, voice heavy with emotion. "Now get up and fight me like you did when we were kids."

Her eyes hid away from his.

"No! I-" she looked away, "I don't need to hurt you anymore," she mumbled under her breath.

"I know…" he whispered back. His stance failing for moment, then going back; his emerald greens locking onto her crimson eyes. "But we have to fight. We can't learn anything from this if we don't."

"You- You knew?" her rage flared, all other emotions banished by his words. "YOU KNEW ALL THIS TIME?" She attacked out of nowhere, Izuku barely able to block her explosion in time with a raise of his gauntlet. "YOU KNEW AND YOU DIDN'T STOP?"

His own anger bubbled to the surface. "HOW COULD I- IT WAS MY ONLY DREAM TO BE A HERO!"

He grunted, redirecting another explosion with a flick of his gauntlet, boots skidding on the ground from the force. "HOW COULD YOU EVEN ASK ME TO STOP WANTING TO BECOME ONE?" His other fist swung across, impacting the girl's shoulder with enough force to knock her back.

She growled and maneuvered mid-air, slamming a foot into his ribs, making him grunt in pain "HOW COULD I? I COULDN'T JUST WATCH YOU KILL YOURSELF!"

Katsumi aimed to get him while he was knocked prone, but he recovered too fast, backflipping and kicking her in the stomach as he did so.

Izuku shot a look at her. "You would have preferred me being unhappy to me being a hero?"

"You thought I enjoyed that?" She hissed catching her breath "I HATED EVERY MOMENT OF IT!" She hollered getting back to her feet.

"THEN WHY DID YOU DO IT?" He shot back, running at her, arm pulled back, ready to maim.

"CAUSE I PREFERED THAT IF IT MEANT YOU LIVED DUMBASS!" she screamed over the explosion she fired to keep him at bay. He raised his gauntlets to cover his face from the white-hot wave of death.

He gritted his teeth. "What do you want me to do then? Thank you for tormenting me, trying your best to keep me away from my dream?"

Her anger flooded out, leaving her feeling empty as his words registered. She dropped her hands to her sides, clenching and unclenching them, words failing in her throat.

_Just hate me. Hate me as I hate myself. It's so much easier that way._

His caught the look in her eyes, and face scrunched in recognition, "You hate yourself." he dropped his guard.

_How was I so blind..?_

The last remnants of fight left her, her shoulders slumping in resignation. "I muttered that, didn't I?"

"It was in your eyes. The glint I always saw.

Couldn't place it until now." He walked towards her. "And... I don't hate you… I _can't _hate you..."

"Why-" her voice cracked "why don't you hate me? I'm just this- _villain _that bullied the only person that believed in her potential-"

"Because she did it to protect him. You said it yourself." he shrugged, not stopping his advance.

Katsumi noticed how close he had got and was feeling slightly intimidated by how much bigger -for the lack of a better word- he had gotten; she had to crane her neck to see his face.

"You are an idiot" she muttered softly, not turning away.

"Maybe so…" he mumbled and wrapped his arms around her.

She felt as warm as the day he had saved her from that slime villain; leaning into the comforting contact.

"THE HERO TEAM WINS!"

Her eyes snapped open as All Might's voice filled the area. _Oh right- that-_

_Wait- who touched the bo-_

She looked down and saw that Izuku had wrapped the capture-tape around her during his hug.

"But I am an Idiot that just won." The grin on his face made her hands involuntarily crackle and face flush.

_Goddammit…_

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

_Heh_

She started laughing, honest to God; happy laughing. "I fucking hate you."

There was no bite to her words.


	18. But things of heart are not yet dead

"Awe man- we already won?" Mina whined, stopping her approach towards the bomb. Katsumi's laugh died in her throat and her eyes widened.

"Wait- how? That punch should have-" Her eyes locked onto Izuku. "What did you do?"

He looked away bashfully. "Have you heard about non-newtonian fluids?"

"You gave her fucking armor?" Katsumi just shook her head in exasperation.

"Yep~" Mina reached down her suit, causing Izuku to look away, blushing slightly, and pull out what looked like a large gel plate. "Izuku over there thought you would go for the chest- no idea how this works but those punches still stung like a _bitch. _"

_Of-fucking-course he planned for how I attacked._

Her smirk returned.

"Jesus Christ, I was worried over nothing all these years." She mumbled.

"Well to be honest- the non-newtonian part was Yaorozu's idea... I was thinking full on scale-plate," He admitted.

"And only on the chest?" Katsumi asked, eyebrow arching.

"You always go for the torso..."

_It's a force of habit- and it's your fault!_

_I couldn't just punch you in the face..._

"Deku!" Ochako screamed from the top floor, jumping down with her gravity nullified.

Midway through the tablet she had taken stopped working, and the shock of the sudden motion-sickness caused her quirk to fail her, her fall suddenly accelerating.

Izuku lifted Katsumi up, their hug still unbroken since the announcement of his team's victory, and put her to the side. She blushed at the effort he didn't put behind the whole operation, lifting her with ease. " Bio-sonar " his gauntlets echoed, the metal gloves over his hands folding away as he let go of Katsumi and grabbed Ochako before she hit the ground. Much like he was used to with Mei.

"The tablet only worked for 5 minutes, eh?" he hummed absentmindedly, Ochako hugging his neck in part fear and part excitement.

"We won!" she chirped happily not realizing the position they were in just quite yet.

"We did!" he smiled back.

"So Blasty, how does it feel to lose?" Mina asked prodding the explosive woman, who was having too good of a day to even mind how close Izuku was with Ochako.

"Enjoy it while you can, Racoon Eyes, 'cause next fucking time you are going _down. _" There was no real animosity in her voice, even with the cuss added into it.

Mina looked at her, dumbfounded. "Woah, Izuku is scary if he got you like this-"

Now _that _got a reaction outta her. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?" Katsumi screamed, struggling against the capture tape binding her arms to her torso.

"Ow-" Kyoka hissed appearing from the sidelines. "You sure scream a lot huh Baka-gou?" Mina and Ochako tried hard to keep their laughs to that nickname, failing badly.

Izuku sweat dropped-

_Guys- don't antagonize her come on..._

"Also- Raka-" Kyoka cut in, "I know you got jealous and all but- maybe get off of Green?"

The girl in question stopped laughing, finally noticing just how close she was with Izuku- one hand under her knees, the other on her back holding her softly but firmly,

_His hands are sof- _"GAH!" she tried jumping off of him, causing both to nearly fall as she shifted their center of mass rapidly; thankfully, his weight- a whopping 300 kg with his suit on- was too much to shift out of balance, so she remained there in his arms, covering her face with her hands trying to hide the blush she was sporting now.

Getting the message he slowly let her down, and she took a few steps away from him.

Mina had a pit in her stomach about the whole exchange- everyone in the scene did- but the sheer absurdity of it all caused her to laugh harder, even Kyoka joining in with a soft chuckle, causing Ochako to shoot pouting looks to the both of them.

"Students- I know this is fun and all but you should start clearing out- the next teams are going to have their turn now," came All might's voice from the speakers in the area. "Midoriya since you planned all of this, could you take care of the incapacitated three?"

He nodded and crouched down, green lightning crackled around him; and jumped back up to the bomb room, leaving a crater where he once stood.

"Oh- right he can do that, too..." Kyoka mumbled watching him shoot through the hole in the floors.

"Why didn't he do it in the test?" Mina asked.

"Too much damage, plus green lightning isn't very covert now is it?" Katsumi answered them both. "You would have lost in an all out brawl."

"You are smarter than you look huh, Blasty?" Mina teased causing her to grit her teeth

"What do you mean by that, Racoon Eyes, _huh? _"

Kyoka chuckled. "'Lost in an all out brawl.' Bold words coming from someone who just got utterly defeated"

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!"

The trio on the ground floor started laughing.

* * *

He grabbed the edge of the hole in the floor as he shot past, redirecting his momentum and landing with a heavy thunk on the floor, seeing Momo trying the lift the door off of Mai and Hana to his side

"Oh- Midoriya-" she ceased trying to use the crowbar she'd created to unlodge the door from where it had embedded itself in the floor. "Could you help me with this- I can't get a good enough grip."

He walked up to the door, rolling his shoulders. "I got this-" his gauntlet started whirring. " Jaws of life " The upper plate of his left gauntlet lifted a bit, two pincers pushing out from their spots underneath the plate. He stabbed their tips between the floor and the metal door, the device hissed with hydraulic power as the door bent and popped off of the two trapped students, still knocked out cold.

"Ouch- we might have gone a little too hard on them..." Izuku mumbled looking over them both, aiming his gauntlet at them " Scan initiated, mild concussion on both subjects, none are in critical condition. " He gave a sigh of relief and picked them both up under his arm.

"Good aim with that taser, by the way" he hummed, crouching by Tomoyo and removing the tape around her in one fluid motion.

Momo blushed, averting her eyes slightly. "It was nothing- I was just following your plan."

He clicked his tongue. "You are selling yourself short. Without you to cover the gaps in my plan, this little stunt would never have worked." He draped Hana over one shoulder then moved to pick up Shoko and started walking towards the stairs.

She looked away, twiddling her thumbs bashfully. "I suppose..." following him downstairs.

Tomoyo just stared at the two with a mixture of awe and fear.

_That was a 'little stunt'?_

* * *

All might leaned into the console, taking out her earpiece; she had no need to listen in anymore.

_Oh._

_My._

_Goodness._

The other 10 students stared at the hero team converging on the ground floor, Katsumi still struggling against the bindings and trying to get at the three girls she was left with.

_Not only have they captured or incapacitated all of the villains, with a plan to capture the bomb if the initial sting operation didn't end with it's retrieval, they also made sure none of the hero team would get hurt. _She rubbed her head. _And to top it all off- the damage to the arena was only done by the villains. Not counting the doors... _

She turned to the ever-watching Mecha-Might. "Is this what you meant by massacre?"

"**Bea̺̾u̜͆tifȗ͜l̥̿ ̦̂isṉ͐'̮̐t͓̚ ̛͙it?̭͝ Ả̖n iň̩tr̳̂i̢̽cate̩̽ ̅͜pl̗̔an ͙̆c̨oṁ͚i̛̮ṉ͋g t͔̅o f͈̀ṟ͆ui̖̕ṭ͒ion̩̈́**.̠̿"

_No, its goddamn terrifying! _Eleven heads thought in union.

"I don't even want to know how that would have gone if Bakugou fought back harder," Eiko thought aloud.

"Anyone thinking he had a different plan to knock her out?" The others softly nodded.

"Using their connection to talk her down..." All might hummed "Not something a hero gets to use in the field often, but its a useful skill for sure."

"What did he even say though?" Minerva hissed.

_Fucking childhood friend subplot. I want to get hugged like that, dammit._

All might turned to her. "That's personal- and not part of the curriculum; why are you asking, Mineta?"

She didn't answer with a human language, instead making a choked out growl.

"Anyway-" Tsuyu cut in, ribbiting. "Imagine if they went after us? They would have much more time to plan."

They all shuddered at the thought.

"I'm just happy I wasn't on the receiving end of it," Rikku admitted.

"Eh- if it meant getting hugged like that I would be down," Doi said, casually putting her hands behind her head.

They all stared at her.

"What?"

_I mean- we are all thinking it but she shouldn't say it, _Tsuyu thought.

* * *

Shoko slowly came to her senses, feeling someone's arm under her stomach, making her panic slightly before realizing what had happened.

_We lost._

She looked up to Izuku who was carrying her.

_I underestimated you. Bakugou was right trying to rush and end it before you came to us._

"Oh- Shoko- you're awake." He noticed her staring at him, feeling slightly intimidated by her steady gaze. "S-sorry about the taser- we couldn't think of a better way to knock you out before you used your quirk."

"It's fine," she said simply. "It won't work on me next time."

"Didn't think it would," he stopped, letting her stand on her own. "I'll make soba tonight to make it up to you."

Her eyes sparkled, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"You are spoiling her again..." Momo mumbled at his side.

"I'll also make some Mochi," -Ochako perked up- "Natto or Okra- I'll have to check the fridge," -Ashido started vibrating- "Cinnamon rolls," -Jirou looked away to hide her smile- "... And a cheeseburger."

"That's... " Momo mumbled, her retort dying in her now-watering mouth. _That's cheating._

"We still have some leftover ghost peppers for curry," he continued; Katsumi smirked.

"And beef stew," he finished.

Tomoyo just stared. "How did you know?"

His teammates stopped. "Wait-" they said in union, realizing it.

"HOW _DID _YOU KNOW!?"

Katsumi shrugged, continuing to walk with him towards the observation deck. "Don't question it, he just does that sometimes. Scared the fuck outta me when we were kids."

He started laughing awkwardly while rubbing his neck. "Educated guess?"

* * *

"No, seriously." Kyoka broke the silence in the observation room. Izuku had left to deliver Mai and Hana to Recovery Girl, asking for Momo to give him the play-by-play of the second group's fight when he returned. "How did he _know _our favorite foods?"

Katsumi scratched her head trying to remember his explanation in the past. "He said that it was something connected to our quirks, our eating habits?" She shrugged again, "I barely remember him explaining it once when we were- oh God, seven?"

* * *

"Hey- hey Kacchan-" Izuku chirped- still trying to be her friend even after their clashes started.

"What is it Deku?" She huffed- really not wanting to fight with him, it was emotionally tiring.

"Is your favorite food ghost pepper curry?"

She nodded absentmindedly.

Then stopped-

"Wait- how did you know that? I didn't start eating it since..." her words died in her mouth.

_Since after we started fighting._

He looked unphased. "I-I just guessed?"

"Huh..." She mumbled looking away, trying not to show that it scared her slightly.

"Kacchan, you alright?"

* * *

The other five stared at her zoning out, Momo not looking away from the brawl on the screen. "Wait, you remember what Izuku said to you when you were seven?" Mina asked, stunned.

"Yeah- why?" she mumbled, snapping back to reality. _I gotta stop doing that._

_Yeah, no, they are both scary. _The rest thought.

"Are we not going to talk about the fact that Deku has come up with a way to guess people's favorite foods from, like, our quirk and how we like our meals? From when he was _seven _?"

"Oh no, he guessed it when we were five."

_Scratch that, Katsumi is scary- Izuku is terrifying_

All might started sweating.

_What kind of a data-crunching monster are you?_

* * *

Eiko hissed as she blocked a combo attack from Makaira and Rikku, skidding to a stop with her hardened limbs.

_Izuku made this look so easy- we got found out the moment we stepped in..._

_Then again it might have been that-_

She turned to Yui who was spinning around trying to show off her sparkly cape.

"Could you at least fire your laser or something, man- we are getting pummeled here!"

"Oui- let me just-" she fired her laser.

The beam hit Tooru in the back, causing her to 'Eep' in surprise as it refracted off of her silhouette, a myriad of colors shooting in a large fan in front of her.

"hOLY SHI-"

The building collapsed around both teams.

* * *

All Might stared at the screen- so did the rest of the girls- 8 sets of eyes widening.

"How am I supposed to grade _that _?"

"**P͚͞oo͍̚rlý͕?**" Mecha Might offered, his modulated voice sounding amused somehow.

_Huh- so her quirk is light refraction, not invisibility _Momo thought. _I wonder if Izuku already guessed that?_

Mina whistled. "Damn- and I thought Baka-gou had destructive force."

Katsumi's eyebrow twitched but she tried not to react, taking in a few breaths to try to keep her anger in check. "That doesn't count; that was two people."

"Sureeeee" Kyoka hummed as she rolled her eyes, voice unimpressed.

"Why- I oughta" Katsumi hissed, making the rest of the girls chuckle, causing her to glare at them all.

* * *

"Oh, Midoriya- Didn't expect to see you here so soon," Chiyo hummed. "Got hurt?"

"Not me- the opposing team," he answered, a little sheepishly, laying down Mai and Hana on the beds of the infirmary.

Recovery girl sighed, not even having enough power to get mad at him. "What's the damage?"

"Mild concussions; they should be fine with rest." He moved to get out of the room only to almost knock into someone with orange hair, carrying someone with... _vines growing out of her head?_

"Recovery Girl- I don't know what's happening- she got hit by a classmates quirk and went manic" the orange-haired girl huffed.

Izuku, not knowing what else to do, rushed to help, grabbing the vine-headed woman's side.

"Michael? Is that you?" the woman mumbled, leaning onto him; he could see some mushrooms coming out of her hair. _What..?_

_Wait- Michael? Like the archangel?_

He almost dropped her at that- but helped her onto the bed, Recovery Girl trying to find some anti-fungal sprays to help her with her condition "Stupid- little- who thought it was a good idea to mix plants with fungi?" she hissed pulling out the spray and getting to work, closing the curtains behind her.

"Ah this is a mess," the other student huffed looking at the curtain. "Hey, thanks for your he-"

"Oh- it's you?"

Izuku's face scrunched: _she recognizes me?_

"Oh sorry- there was this rumor going around about a _guy_ in class 1A-"

"Ohhhhh-" he mumbled. "Guess you know me then, huh? And you are?"

"Kendo Itsuka, and no, I don't know you, I just heard about you- what is your name?" she asked politely- almost in a sisterly voice.

"Oh- sorry, Midoriya Izuku, at your service." he hummed absentmindedly; introducing himself this way had almost become second-nature.

"At my service?" Itsuka asked while giggling softly, causing him to get flustered,

"Ah sorry- force of habit."

"You say 'at your service' commonly enough for it to be a habit?" she mused, causing him to take an expersarated breath, blushing darker; his reaction making her laugh harder.

"You are a funny guy-" she breathed, extending a hand. "Nice meeting you, Midoriya of class A."

He shook his head, dispelling the blush. " Bio-sonar " his gauntlet folded away from his hand. "The pleasure is mine, Kendo of class..."

"B."

"Kendo of class B."

They shook hands. He somehow felt this was significant in some way he couldn't quite understand yet.

"Also, 'the pleasure'?" she smirked.

And now he just wanted to die.


	19. Bookmark in my heart

Itsuka hummed after letting go of his hand, giving him a once-over, seeing just how tense he had gotten over the comments she had made- _Might have gone a little overboard- I should just compliment him to get him to relax... _-causing him to blush a little harder. "Also, nice hero suit-"

"Really shows off your figure" Her face froze.

He started blushing like a strawberry

He wanted to die, he really did.

_Good to know Total Command doesn't outright kill me when I think that._

* * *

in the teachers lounge, Aizawa Shiko felt a spark of empathy. She looked around, internally questioning what _that _was about.

* * *

Itsuka, on the other hand, was screaming internally. And had started blushing madly in embarrassment. _WAIT I DIDN'T MEAN THAT-_

His pager beeped. And his trance was broken, the blush on his face fading instantly as his brain stopped thinking about what Itsuka had just said, focusing on finding the pager.

He started shuffling in the many pockets of his cargo pants _Nozomi? What's going on?_

'Return back to class- they need some help with retrievals.' His eyebrow furrowed. _Would it kill her to be just a little more specific?_

"Sorry- I gotta go class… See you later, Kendo."

"I'm sure we will" she sighed trying to calm down after her blunder- _how did __he __calm down so fast? _"See you around, Midoriya."

With that he dashed off.

_His back is really broad, _Itsuka thought before she could stop herself.

* * *

_…_

_Where is the building?_

"Ah- Midoriya thank you for coming so fast," All Might grunted, tearing off a chunk of the debris, revealing Doi mumbling incoherently and giving her two thumbs-up. "We really need your help with- Uh, locating Hagakure.."

"What happened-" he muttered, walking closer to the number one hero.

"The second hero team didn't do a good job keeping the damage to a minimum-" she answered, just the slightest hint of amusement in her voice.

" Bio-sonar " his gauntlets announced and he placed his palms on the ground. "Too much irregularly shaped debris- can't get a read on her-" His eyes searched for-

"Ah! Jirou could we do our scan again?" She nodded and started feeding her heartbeat through her jacks; they were already stabbed in the ground so she could listen for other students.

He closed his eyes, trying to decipher all the vibration data his somatosensory system was flooding his cerebral cortex with.

That was a bad idea- focusing down on his tactile sensations caused him to almost feel every nook and cranny in the area...

Including everyone's bodies that were still trapped under the rubble of the test area...

_Oh God- I need a cold shower…_

He thanked the heavens that Minerva wasn't in this mess- He did **_not_ **want her form in his memory.

He called out the locations of the trapped students for the rest of the class to find and dig out, then headed to where he had felt Tooru at, heaving the debris out of the way to free the invisible girl.

"Cmon Hatsume- don't fail me now…" he pleaded, forearms twitching in sequence to activate the scanners in his gauntlets.

" Scan initiated- subject unconscious- blunt force trauma to the head; damage- negligible. "

_I gotta ask how she made that scanner work so well..._

He leaned down and tried to wake her up by gently tapping what he thought was her shoulder. "Hagakure- Hagakure can you hear me?"

She groaned and sighed, consciousness slowly returning. "H-huh? Wh-"

She looked up to him, the light of the afternoon sky hitting him in such a way that made his emerald eyes _shine _.

The breath was knocked out of her.

"Hagakure?" Izuku asked, leaning in a bit closer, still not sure exactly where her face was.

_He has freckles-_

"MIDORIYA, DID YOU FIND HER?" a voice called from the sidelines- pulling his attention away.

"YEAH, I GOT HER!" he shouted back before returning his attention to the invisible girl.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

"Scans told me you were fine but- you feeling ok?" he asked, reaching a gauntlet-clad hand for her: she watched as it folded open to reveal his actual hand.

"Oh- OH..." She finally came to her senses fully. "Y-yeah I'm fine-" she grabbed onto his hand and let him pull her up. "What happened, anyway?"

"You got hit by Aoyama's Laser, and that refracted it all around the place. I believe it was refraction at least..." Momo answered, coming up to the two. "We got everyone else out already" she said, dusting herself off absentmindedly; the motion causing her chest to jiggle slightly.

Now with no objective to focus on, the class being finished and the 'rescue' resolved, his mind let itself wander, dropping out of his hyper-focused state. Causing him to realize just what was going on.

He was standing to a naked, invisible woman. And was looking at another beautiful and busty woman.

In a leotard with holes cut in it.

Normally he would have been prepared and would be not _as _affected- but the suddenness of his recognition of the situation hit him like a punch in the gut, making him choke on air and start blushing neon red.

"Midoriya are you-" _alright? _Was what Momo was going for, but his sudden bashfulness broke the calm she had let herself be lulled into, her self-consciousness skyrocketing instantly and making her remember just what she was wearing in front of the man that made her heart throb irregularly regularly. "You... y-you…" she, too started blushing.

"I-it- it's f-for my q-quirk" she blustered trying to justify her appearance and he nodded feverishly, trying hard not to look directly at her.

"Y-yeah you- you would need- hol- holes where your lipid stores a-are -I know just..." he turned away, blushing even more somehow. _It's a good thing I don't have Shoko's quirk, otherwise I might __actually_ _be on fire right now._ "It looks very good on you-" The compliment caused her to flinch and look down, blushing wildly.

Tooru looked between the two blushing messes, dumbfounded. She could see actual steam coming out of Izuku, and Momo looked close to following his lead.

"What just happened?"

* * *

All of the class went back to the locker rooms- Momo still blushing madly, Uraraka joining her when she passed by Izuku and got a similar reaction out of him.

_I'm- I'm glad he likes it- but its still so embarrassing…_

"So-" Mina cut in, Izuku's team looking at her suddenly, "What was up with him? He kinda acted…out of it...?" she tried to put it into words "No no, he was still... ugh-"

"He kinda did act differently when you mention it…" Kyoka hummed in thought. "What do you two think?"

Both Momo and Ochako flinched and nodded.

"It could be just him compartmentalizing," Katsumi said from the side making everyone suddenly turn to her; looking lost and confused.

"What?- he has total fucking control of his brain, too; he could have just turned off shit he didn't need - like self-consciousness?" She asked, looking honestly confused that they hadn't picked up on it yet.

_Wait- did I make him that way?_

"Huh- that explains it," Mina hummed going back to changing out of her suit,

"Should ask to add that non-newt stuff into my suit," she added, more to herself, looking at her only _slightly _bruised stomach.

"Wow you really are smart under all that explosive temperament," Kyoka hummed, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," the explosive woman mumbled, not really listening, making Kyoka pout slightly.

_It's no fun if you don't react..._

"All of you are so lucky-" Minerva hissed tearing off her hair-balls instead of trying and failing to get all the debris off of them. they weren't sticky, not till she pulled them off anyway. but it was just easier to pull em off and let them regrow. "Getting to get so close to him"

"I'm pretty sure he would kick you to the moon if you tried getting that close, even if you were in his team." Tsuyu croaked, rubbing her arms- being under that much debris had left some bruising.

"IT WOULD BE WORTH IT"

* * *

His gauntlets hissed and clicked one after the other releasing their grip on the suit underneath. He pulled both off gingerly and placed them back into the box they came in. Now free of the gauntlets, he quickly shedded the wetsuit and threw that in the box as well.

_I understand Momo- and her need for uncovered skin for her quirk- _he took a breath steadying himself, and taking a seat on the bench of the changing room. _Whose bright idea was to give Ochako spandex?_

He slapped his face.

_Not that she doesn't look good in i-_

He started blushing again.

_Oh for fucks sake…_

* * *

"Hey- hey Ashi~" Tooru shook around in her uniform trying to get the pink skinned girl's attention just as they got out of the changing rooms, "did you know Midori has freckles on his face?"

"Oh?" The girl in question hummed, she placed a finger on her chin; trying to remember his face fully "Does he?" His emerald eyes had pulled hers in too much for her to actually look down on his cheeks. Well, at least not enough to notice such minute details. Even with the hug they had shared yesterday.

"That just makes him cuter though, doesn't it?" she concluded, getting lost in the eyes of the mental image she had generated.

Tooru blushed at that freely- a perk of being invisible, no one noticed. _More like hot _she thought, reminiscing how his eyes had sparkled when he was reaching down to help her up. It didn't help that the gauntlets made him look like a high-tech knight in shining armor.

"Cute?" Eiko chuckled "Nah, Mina, he's manly," she smirked. "You were down on the ground floor when he faced off against Bakugou weren't you? Talking her down like that was manly as hell."

Mina pouted slightly. "He can be both!" she announced, tearing Tooru from her fantasy and getting a chuckle out of her.

The hardening girl smiled and nodded. "Guess so, huh?"

Tooru shook her arms back and forth, something she did when she was thinking; it was useful to give people a visual cue. Being invisible meant she just had to use her body to broadcast expressions. "Actually- What _did _he say to her?"

Mina shrugged. "Not sure, my ears were still ringing from Baka-gou's attacks," rubbing her ear for emphasis. "Something about him knowing something?" she shrugged again. "Not that it's my place to share anywa-"

"PFFT!" Eiko couldn't help herself, grinning widely at the acidic woman. "You holding back from gossiping? Bakugou's attack might have affected you more than I thought."

"Hey, I can keep stuff to myself! Like how you dye your hai-" she stopped herself a little too late. "Oops… sorry Kiri..."

"It was bound to happen eventually." Eiko shrugged, ruffling her crimson hair.

"Well red looks good on you!" Tooru chirped, bouncing slightly, her words getting a smile from the red-head.

"Well, even though whatever he said was probably manly as hell- Bakugou hasn't been acting like herself since," she hummed, looking over her shoulder towards the changing room.

"What are you talking about?" Tooru asked, looking at the changing room too

"Dunno- she just seems… happier?"

* * *

Katsumi almost inhaled the curry he had given her back in the dorms, a smile gracing her features.

"You took tips from your mom, didn't you?" She asked, passing the plate back for seconds.

He shook his head, "Nah, yours- she says hi by the way." He passed a cheeseburger with a side of fries to Momo who was already, uncharacteristically, salivating and blushing. Then filled Katsumi's plate again.

Within minutes, the whole class had joined in on the feeding frenzy, their initial uneasiness of him somehow guessing their favorite foods melting away as soon as the aroma emanating from the kitchen hit them.

Diverse or not, he had managed to make even the mixture of scents fit together.

He stood in the kitchen, smiling as he watched his classmates go at it in the dining table.

_Lunch-rush was right, this does make me feel like I'm eating katsudon._

"You alright?" Shoko asked, oddly not stuffing her face with soba like she was prone to do.

"I should be asking you that, did I add too much soy?" He asked, taking a step closer to her and her half-finished plate.

"No its good, just-"

"She's sad because she ate shi-" Minerva's words died in her throat as Izuku's eyes landed on her, his shoulders squaring a bit, causing her to _feel _how tall he actually was; nothing like what his usual posture emanated. She whimpered and went back to her fruit salad.

The posture change reminded Shoko of the mere second she'd witnessed him before the taser hit her. "She isn't wrong… I do feel bad about that..."

The room fell silent.

"Ok we have a guy with a quirk, Bakugou calmed down, and now Shoko is talking about her feelings-" Doi counted off. "Are we _SURE _this isn't like the end times?"

"Spark-plug, I swear to god..." Katsumi hissed, causing Kyoka to start laughing uncontrollably. "Spark- plug- holy shit!"

"She does speak an ounce of truth," Fumiko said, taking another forkfull of her apple pie. "All of these events do sound similar to the signs of the four horsemen of the apocalypse-" she stabbed her fork to the pie. "The end times are nigh, my friends," she finished, voice deep and cold.

"Please don't encourage Kaminari," Tomoyo huffed making the group chuckle loudly.

Izuku tilted his head to the side thoughtfully before turning back to Shoko, offering the girl a soft smile. "I am here if you wanna talk."

She nodded softly, unwilling to meet his eyes.

* * *

"Morning, Class." Shiko's voice broke the silence of homeroom. "Sorry for dropping this onto you now but-"

Everyone suddenly felt heavy with a mix of anticipation and mild fear.

"-it's time to select a class representative."

They all released the collective breath they'd been holding. _Just a normal college thing to do._

"I don't care how you select it, just get it over before homeroom ends. And. Don't. Wake. Me. Up."

_You don't even sleep in there _Izuku sweat dropped.

"Izuku should be the representative!" Mina announced almost immediately, getting a few 'yeah's' from the class.

_WHOA THERE!_

"Wait- me? Why?" He asked, looking around the room, eyes wide. _I mean- it's not like I don't want it… _

"Dude- are you serious?" Eiko asked looking at him in minor disbelief.

"You are truly the best candidate for it, with your analytical mind, and tactical skill, I have no doubt you would represent this class to the fullest," Tomoyo announced, moving her hand in chopping motions.

"What she said," Doi added, leaning back on her chair making it balance on its back legs, causing Tomoyo to start lecturing her.

"You guys..." he whimpered ever so softly, grasping his chest.

"You need a vice representative, too," Aizawa mumbled from beneath the teachers podium, voice slightly muffled by her sleeping bag.

"It's between Iida and Yao-momo then," Kyoka hummed, trying to spin her pencil on one of her jacks.

"Hey fuck you, I can be a good vice rep," Katsumi snarled.

"I am not letting you vice represent this class, you pomeranian," Kyoka shot back, smirking.

"I'LL FUCKING HANG YOU BY YOUR-"

"I wanna be vice rep." Minerva's announcement killed whatever Katsumi was going to say back to Kyoka.

Everyone in the class turned and said 'No' in union.

* * *

"Midnight- Is it true that UA has All might in its teaching staff?"

Nemuri pouted internally, _third day in and the tabloids have already learned about that?_

"Is it true that a male has enrolled in the Hero course?" another reporter asked, her microphone almost poking the R-18 hero in the cheek.

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance, face still stuck on a pleasant TV-ready smile. "I cannot say anything on the matter. Our student's identities are confidential until the sports festival-" Her look turned to one of lust and sadism with practiced ease. "Wouldn't want to end the teasing too soon, would we?"

The reporters shivered from the aura she had started generating.

"But it is the public's' right to kn-"

"It is our principals choice to withhold that information, and it is the student's right to privacy. I am sorry sweetie, but both your and my hands are tied," she sighed, acting giddy at the thought.

"Now if you are done, you need to vacate the premises, I have a class to get to. Maybe I could tease you some other time?~"

She winked and took a step backwards. A reporter tired to follow her in, only to activate the motion sensor and trigger the 'UA barrier.'

She could have sworn she saw two red eyes in the crowd staring back at her in the last second before the steel shut in front of her.

_Huh- those looked more unhinged than the usual paparazzi..._

_Oh well._

She huffed, deciding to just ignore the normal antics of the media and started her trek back to the main building.

_Why did I apply to become the public relations head anyway?_

* * *

The class grew roudier with small arguments starting to take place.

"We should vote," Momo muttered, her voice not quite getting to everyone.

"THAT IS A GREAT IDEA, DEMOCRACY IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO!" Tomoyo announced, "EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO BE THE VICE PRESIDENT, RAISE YOUR HA-"

"Wait-" Kyoka cut in, "If Green is the rep; shouldn't he just pick the vice rep?" she leaned back. "We can trust his call on the matter, can't we? I mean- we did pick him for a reason."

Tomoyo tapped her chin thoughtfully before nodding. "That- that does make sense Jirou, good call."

Midoriya gulped, _No, bad call. _Everyone turned to him.

_Why have you forsaken me like this Kyoka?_

"I- uhh-" his eyes darted between everyone, each having an expectant gaze of their own.

_This is too much so sudden- and I can't even pick with the str-_

_Wait- I know_

He took a deep breath. "Yaoyorozu."

The girl in question got stuck between swelling her chest with pride and feeling overwhelmed by the news.

"You just picked her cause you like her Yaoyoroppai," Minerva hissed, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone in the room swore they heard glass crack, though no one was sure as to where the sound had originated from.

Izuku's face was frozen and Momo's was hidden behind her hands against her desk, hoping the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

His neck made an unnatural groan as his head swiveled to look at the source of that despicable sentence.

"**Mineta Minerva, could you repeat that?** " The dark tone of his voice sent shivers through the class. They were feeling _actual _killing intent from the man for the first time.

"Imsosorrypleasedontkillme-"

He took a few breaths, trying to calm himself.

_Killing isn't heroic-_

_Maiming isn't heroic-_

_MURDER. ISN'T. HEROIC._

"If you need an explanation," Izuku said, his internal chant subsiding as he pulled his eyes away from the miniature woman, "Yayorozoru proved herself highly intelligent and analytical, more so than me, in the combat training- plus her inputs during the planning phase showed that she could close up any of the gaps left by me..." He droned on, the killing aura fading as he continued his explanation. "She is the best choice for representative, I can assure you that."

The class stared for a second, then nodded, mumbled and grunted, accepting his explanation in their own ways.

There was no room to argue with his point; The opposing team had splintered, neither Shoko nor Katsumi establishing a proper leading position or a working plan, and the other two groups didn't even consider a leader and did their own thing.

And they knew how that turned out.

Izuku's team was the only one to have a proper leader, and from his explanation; a right-hand-woman.

Momo only sunk lower to her desk at his explanation blushing even more at the compliments he had _built _his argument on.

_… You…_

_You really see me that way?..._

She started worrying that Kyoka or Mai would notice her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage.

* * *

_Such easy-going lives- you heroes…_

The reporters turned and gave up; with the gate closed no one was getting in, no matter how much they crowded the structure.

_No real opposition other than the ones society labeled as 'villains.' _

With all the reporters trying to get their equipment packed up she walked up to the door, crimson eyes echoing her grin as she touched the heavy steel plating with one hand.

_Time to turn the tables,_

The steel oxidized, cracks of rust spreading over the surface like an infection. The gleaming and shiny surface rotting away and crumbling into mere dust in the wind.

_Time to announce our counter-attack. _


	20. Wonder, dread and war

"I'm surprised you're not sad about being selected as vice rep, Iida.," Ochako hummed taking another chunk of her white rice. _It's good- but not as good as Deku's... _"You had the whole glasses-wearing look going on, too."

Some of the girls in the '1-A' table nodded along, others didn't look back from their own conversations; Izuku had a 'you can't just ask that' look. She smiled back sheepishly.

"On the contrary: I didn't want the spot, I have my eyes on the presidency of the student morals committee!" Tomoyo said, a slight smile tugging at her lips. "But thank you for your concern, Uraraka."

The brunette smiled back, "I'm sure you'll be picked for that, you are always prim and prope-"

An alarm blaring cut her off, causing her to jump slightly in surprise along with the rest of the class.

"Security level three has been broken. All students please evacuate in an orderly fashion."

Izuku's world came to a stop. _Level three? That means- we have trespassers? _His mind raced trying to remember what Nozomi had taught him about the UA protocols during his time working here.

He didn't have much time to think, however, as the rest of the student body started to stampede out, some knocking over tables as they panicked and screamed. Tomoyo had grabbed onto one of the older students and was trying to figure out what the alarm was about, but was cut short as even more students plowed through, breaking up the clustered groups they were in.

He started panicking- with the way things were going people were going to get hurt- even trampled to death. He looked around- and was struck by someone slamming against his chest- _Ochako?_

He ignored the pleasant sensation of her body squishing against his, and wrapped his arms around her, trying to get some of the pressure off her back.

"D-Deku?" she mumbled, looking up and blushing furiously.

She saw his eyes. _It's the same look he had after destroyin' the zero pointer… _her breathing stopped for a second, her heart clenching.

He had to stop this before somebody actually got hurt.

But he needed a way to get their attention.

_How could I even..._

He looked down.

_Kacchan is right, I am an idiot._

He leaned down, trying to close the distance between them to tell her of his plan, which only caused Ochako to start panicking harder, causing her quirk to activate on its own.

"How did you know?" he mumbled as they started to float above the crowd. _Doesn't matter..._

He pulled her into a hug and let One For All loose, kicking the air; while it wasn't very strong without winding up, it was enough for him to slam above the exit, making a large bang as his back hit it.

_Ow- _he looked at the students that were now paying attention to him.

"**WHAT** ARE YOU DOING?" He screamed- more than a little pissed about the whole situation "WE ARE UA STUDENTS: FUTURE HEROES! WE SHOULDN'T BE PANICKING AND TRAMPLING EACH OTHER OVER THIS!"

"HE'S RIGHT!" Momo said from her corner, squished against the window; she had managed to generate a megaphone in the second the student body had stopped moving. "IT'S JUST THE MEDIA, NO NEED TO PANIC!"

Their eyes met; Izuku gave her a smile, which Momo answered with a softer one.

* * *

After the student body calmed down after their intervention, Izuku tapped Ochako on the shoulder, trying to get her attention. She looked lost in the moment, face flush and eyes closed, gripping onto his blazer for dear life.

"The stampede is over- you can deactivate your quirk now."

She didn't respond for a second- then cracked an eye open, her eye shining like a tourmaline gemstone in the mid-day glow.

His breath died in his throat. _She's gorgeous._

She blushed harder. "S-sure, sorry I... it activated on its own."

"No problem- I was going to ask you to use it anyway," he smiled.

She clapped her hands and he landed gracefully, holding her in a bridal carry.

Momo was on them in a second. "I checked the rest of the cafeteria, no one was left behind. We should head out, too."

Izuku nodded, letting Ochako down. "Follow me, I know where the meetup location is."

Both the girls nodded and started tailing him; he was the only one that knew where the location was, after all.

* * *

_I keep forgetting how much presence Midoriya can give when the moment calls for it. _Tomoyo thought absentmindedly, trying to get 1-A to make an orderly line. _He truly was the correct call for class representative._

Soon they were joined by Izuku, Ochako, and Momo.

He nodded at Tomoyo curtly, asking if anyone else was missing or hurt, and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that everyone was accounted for.

Thirty minutes later, a horde of ectoplasm clones came by, taking the roster of each class and announcing that the classes that afternoon were postponed due to the press trespassing, and the classes were ordered to head back to homeroom.

* * *

Nozomi walked out of the main building, Hikaru and Nemuri at her sides, both looking tired as hell after their extended 'interview' by the press.

_I will make a point to sue every __goddamn __media outlet that let these reporters think trespassing on UA ground and forcing interviews out of our teachers, on a class day no less, was an acceptable thing to do._

Her tail was standing tall, and the whole UA staff knew what that meant; she was on a warpath

"Midnight, get Hound Dog and Power Loader," she ordered, not even pulling out her pager like she would have.

She looked at the gaping hole that used to be the UA barrier, taking in the pile of rust occupying its space.

"We _will _get to the bottom of this."

_I grew too complacent playing with Midoriya. This should not have snuck up on me._

* * *

"Man Midoriya, you were so goddamn _manly _at the stampede!" Eiko commented as the class finally made it back to their classroom, Mina nodding profusely next to her, causing the man in question to flinch ever so slightly and rub the back of his head.

"S-sorry kinda got lost in the moment." He said meekly, falling back to his shy self, earning a few chuckles from the class.

They were interrupted by Aizawa entering the room and bringing out the hero costumes.

"Grab your Hero gear, we have a field trip," Shiko huffed. "Or don't, it's for rescue training; some of the gear might not be of use."

Izuku stopped for a second. _Is this really safe…? We did just get trespassed._

Aizawa's eyes locked onto his, and she knew what he was thinking. She felt the same way.

_No way that was just a reporter that did that to the barrier._

But she shrugged. _No one would be foolish enough to attack the USJ, not this fast anyway._

The minute shrug, which was only caught by Izuku, as the rest of the girls already went to their lockers, was enough for him.

"It's a little deeper in the campus so we will be taking a bus there. Don't be late," Aizawa added tiredly, leaving the room in silence.

* * *

Soon enough he was in front of the bus in his hero-suit; his gauntlets in the overhead storage, Momo at his side, matching her costume in face color, which was fading thankfully, doing a headcount.

With everyone accounted for, they boarded the bus as well, sitting on the empty gap left for them.

"Did you actually need to do a headcount?" Tsuyu croaked, a finger on her chin.

Izuku shrugged and gestured towards Aizawa, who was napping on the front seat. "Someone had to," he said simply.

"Fair enough," She hummed before growing silent.

"Actually, I had a question" Tooru broke through the idle chatter of the bus, "your quirk is similar to Kaminari's, isn't it? I mean you both spark up..." Her gloved hand tapped where her chin was supposed to be.

Everyone fell silent, eyes landing on the man in question.

Izuku was trying to put what it was into words.

"N-not really, The sparks aren't actually electricity, unlike Kaminari's, it's more like, uh... a side effect of my quirk?" He let One For All spark in his hand. "Total Command just causes that to happen when I think too much about a certain body part. I don't know what it actually is but, I know its not electricity."

_Good to know I can still make shit up on the spot._

Momo looked over to the green lightning storm flicking around between his fingertips, somewhat entranced.

"Wait- Raka was struck by it once, wasn't she?" Mina added, making Ochako pale. "What do you think it is?"

She looked around seeing surprised and curious expressions. "I… I think its just his thoughts manifesting a bit?" She avoided people's gazes and looked out the window. "That's what it felt like to me, at least."

That explanation satisfied the class and they went back to their individual conversations.

_Thoughts manifesting? _He looked down on his hand _Guess One for All can do that too- or maybe it's cause of Total Command and it synergizing?_

He hummed slightly and let the power fade, thinking about how the lightning he generated worked and behaved the whole way there.

* * *

Hitomu hummed to herself, looking over the rust that was left over at the gate.

"I don't know what to call this other than- I think decay? It just looks like the door just decided to crumble in on itself, oxidized to the point it couldn't hold its form…" She shook her head looking away from the electron-microscope and the spectroscopy results.

"The composition of steel matches what the door used to be so I am assuming that whoever did this doesn't have like a 'transforms metal into rust' quirk or something, but I am unsure; could be a number of things." She looked at Nozomi.

"All I can say that whoever that did this, is dangerous: touching someone might oxidize their skin or rust over their blood or something. We hold no records of a quirk that does anything like this, might be a new villain, or one that just went under the radar till now."

Nozomi hummed. "Thank you, Loader- I'll try getting in touch with the hero association and see if they have anything on their records or anyone with a registered quirk that's similar to this one."

_Just who are you?_

_What was your plan?_

_And is this a declaration of war? _

* * *

"We are here," Shiko announced, her eyes snapping open spooking some of the students. "The USJ."

"Universal Studios Japan?" Mina asked, a gleam in her midnight eyes.

"Cool- I always wanted to go there!" Doi added.

The whole class looked at them both.

"D- did you think Universal Studios Japan is _inside _UA?" Kyoka asked, eyes widening.

"Well Aizawa sensei called it USJ so…" the two of them said simultaneously, making Shiko sigh in exasperation.

_I did tell them I would help them with academics, didn't I? _Izuku huffed to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose. _That's gonna be a challenge._

"USJ stands for Unforeseen Simulation Joint," Shiko corrected, shaking her head. _Those two are going to give me so many headaches, aren't they?_

"Ohhhhh..." Mina nodded,

"Wait- Joint?- this just feels like you were trying to fit the acronym," Doi huffed.

"You know what 'acronym' means but you thought it was the theme park?" Kyoka asked, getting puzzled by how Doi's brain worked.

"I trust my teachers!" She defended herself, crossing her arms and turning up her nose.

"She lied to us on the first day of class!" Eiko countered.

"Enough- get out." Shiko huffed already feeling the headache coming from dealing with the antics of the class.

They didn't listen for a second but got the move on when Izuku and Momo got up, asking them to depart off the bus.

_Those two managed to get them to follow their lead already?_

Shiko smirked.

_This year's class is something else._

* * *

He fiddled with his gauntlets as they walked in, feeling the now familiar mass on his arms had put him in a chipper mood.

_It's like carrying around the support other people gave me…_

He then remembered something and his eyes searched out Ochako.

_I have to see her face when she makes her appearance._

He got his wish when the shutters opened, and a hero in a familiar space-suit greeted them.

Ochako's face broke into a child-like smile and she looked giddy, happy to see her favorite hero in the- uh suit?

He couldn't help but smile along.

"There is the flood zone," the figure started, "Landslide zone," Her voice echoed off in an ethereal and alien way out of the puffy space suit. "The conflagration zone and much more: _every _disaster you can imagine, it is in here."

"Welcome students, to the USJ!" She finished, raising her arms up for emphasis.

"IT'S THE SPACE HERO, THIRTEEN!" Ochako exclaimed, not being able to hold herself back anymore, all but vibrating with excitement.

Aizawa walked up to her co-teacher and whispered, "Where is All Might?" Thirteen sweatdropped. "She said she ran out of time during her commute."

Shiko groaned. "I thought she moved into the teacher dorms already? Not doing so is the height of irrationality."

"Aizawa, how did you not know she hasn't moved in? It's been three days."

Well now, Shiko wasn't going to admit she just slept in the teachers' lounge for the past three days.

Even if it was the most logical thing to do, she knew people reacted weirdly to that.

So she just shrugged.

Thirteen just tilted her head and decided that the grumpy, tired homeroom teacher of 1-A was something that no-one could decipher.

"Let's get this started," Shiko mumbled after a bit, around when Ochako started finishing her Izuku-esque muttering spree about Thirteen.

_Is that thing actually contagious?_

"Before we do; I got some things to say, just like three, maybe four...? Ah, in any case," Thirteen coughed into her hand. "As your friend just said, my quirk, black hole, can suck up and tear apart anything. As much as I use it to save people…" she clenched her fist, "I could just as easily use it to kill."

The students flinched, Thirteen's voice suddenly gained a lot more weight.

"I don't doubt that nearly all your quirks have the same potential," She un-clenched her fist. "With Aizawa's Apprehension test, you all saw your limits and hidden potential. And with the combat training with All Might, you learned how to use your gifts in combat."

"This time, you will learn how to utilize your gifts to save others, to save _lives. _" The Space Hero bowed. "I hope you all leave here learning that you are meant to help people, and thank you for listening!"

The class clapped, moved by the speech.

"Now follow me- the first simulation is the crevice rescue." The students followed the two teachers down the steps to the main clearing, and up another flight, towards the fake mountain.

Izuku's gauntlets beeped, he looked down on the screen.

_Signal lost?_

* * *

Mei looked at her tablet groggily; it had just lost signal of Izuku's Gauntlets.

_Mecha-Might said they had a field trip today- didn't he?_

_He probably went out of range- should boost that when I get the chance..._

With that she went back to her nap, Power Loader had asked her to leave the workshop for a while, along with the rest of the support class.

She just had nothing better to do.

Not with Izuku in class anyway.

* * *

_Weird…_

"Deku! Keep up!" Ochako called out for him. _Oh, shit- right the class._

He jogged to catch up- then he sensed the air shift.

The teachers seemed to have noticed it too as he, Thirteen, and Aizawa looked at the same spot over the fountain as the air began swirling, a black abyss opening up between the class and the exit.

"What is that-" Eiko muttered, squinting towards the ripple in the air.

"Is that part of the simulatio-" Doi asked, voice curious.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" Aizawa ordered, her hair starting to float. "THIRTEEN, MIDORIYA, YOU TWO ARE IN CHARGE OF THE CLASS!"

Izuku nodded and looked at the space hero, gazes matching.

The swirling black mass pulsed and tore open, a woman covered in hands walking out of it, A black … abomination flanking her.

There was no other word to describe that _thing_; brain exposed, its body a malformed colossus of exposed black musculature; its red tendons giving it an outright abyssal look.

The two were then joined by an increasing number of other women, their costumes makeshift and haphazard, yet somehow intimidating and vicious looking.

"More robots… ?" Mina asked fearfully taking a step back

"No, Those are real villains," Aizawa answered pulling her goggled up over her eyes. The class shivered as the killing intent emanating from the newcomers finally hit them.

The portal started shifting as the last of the villains entered, getting vaguely humanoid, two piercing yellow glows appearing on the mass. "The staff schedule said All Might was supposed to be here…"

Aizawa's face turned to a scowl. "So you were the ones that broke the barrier?"

"All that trouble; and she isn't even here?" The woman, clearly the leader grunted, hand going up and scratching her neck "And we pulled all the strings we could to get here in time…"

"Hey, " she stopped scratching her neck, "Wonder if a few dead students would summon her here."

"Shall we see?" She hummed as the mass of villains started smirking.

_Time to shed some blood._

* * *

"The infiltrator sensors aren't triggering… if my gauntlets lost signal, that means we are cut off from calling for backup… and they attacked while we were in a secluded area, while the rest of the school is trying to figure out what went wrong with the barrier…" Izuku started analyzing, each fact filling him with a little more fear.

"These guys don't seem like idiots. This was a coordinated sneak attack. And if they were here to attack All Might... they have something strong," he finished, eyes focusing on the black abomination; the rest of the class tensed up a little more.

Aizawa didn't even flinch. "I'll take care of them."

"Aizawa you can't, there is just too many! You specialize in quick one-on-one figh-"

"Midoriya, no hero is a one-trick-pony." she huffed taking a step closer as the villains marched towards the staircase. "While I understand your worry, don't spend it on me and take care of your class. It's not rational."

With that she jumped towards the group at the bottom of the staircase, capture gear swirling around her and eyes glowing red behind the goggles.

Thirteen turned to Izuku, "You make sure no one gets left behind, I'll lead us to the back exit."

With that Class 1-A started its retreat, leaving Aizawa to deal with the villains.

* * *

The villains didn't know what hit them as their quirks failed one by one, Aizawa taking out the so-called 'long-range' squadron with ease, capture-gear wrapping around three of them, and with a flick of her wrist, all three crashed headfirst into each other, effectively knocked out of the fight permanently.

"I know you." a villain with stone skin and 4 arms bellowed, laughter in her voice. "You are Eraserhead aren't you? Your quirk allows you to erase other quirks."

_Fucking media..._

"You can't erase Mutation type quirks though, can ya?" She laughed and dashed towards the erasure hero, "Let's see what color you turn when you become _paste!_"

"Oh?" She smirked under the cover of her capture-gear, "You think I am unprepared for Mutation types?"

She closed the distance between them instantly, her fist contacting the villains face with force her slender body shouldn't have been able to generate. With a flick of her free hand, the tape was behind the villain's ankle, tipping her further. She took another step forward, flicking another finger, causing another villain to trip forwards onto the path of the airborne villain as the hero grabbed her falling foe's head, slamming it down onto the tripped one. Both villains slammed against the ground with enough force to make the cement crack.

"How irrational do you think I am?" she asked the villains that now started surrounding her.

* * *

1-A had made it to the door, if they could just get out they would be home free-

"I won't allow that." The air hissed, rippling and turning black before them.

Thirteen extended an arm out in front of the class protectively.

"Stay back children!"

"Oh don't worry," the portal spoke, "they'll stay behind."

A portal opened up under thirteen and swallowed her whole.

Suddenly things got a lot worse.

"And now time to scatter the rest..."

Izuku's eyes widened. _Fuck. That!_

"SHOKO! FREEZE OUR FEET _NOW! _"

She didn't need to be told twice, ice covering their shoes and rooting the class to the ground just before the torrent of shadow passed over them, not being able to transport them to god-knows-where.

"You are going to be difficult eh?" the ghostly voice mumbled, irritated.

Izuku looked up with a determined gaze, the panic in the rest of the class starting to subside.

_With him with us- _They all started to drop into fighting stances, the ice holding them down crumbling away.

_We can deal with whatever they send at us._

* * *

"Noumu, just take care of her."

Aizawa could barely register what happened as she was blindsided by the abomination, which grabbed her by the head and slammed her into the ground.

"You like the boss monster? I call it the anti-symbol of peace," The villains parted, letting the lanky woman with the hands covering her body to pass through. "Biologically engineered to kill All Might." the beast's hand started crushing the hero's skull

"Don't kill her _just _**yet.**" The villain mumbled, the monster halting.

"I want her to watch what happens to the children first..." Her voice got sickly sweet. The sick smile she sported was almost audible in her tone.

Aizawa weakly struggled against the grip.

_I erased its quirk- how strong is this thing?_

* * *

Izuku was rolling with the punches, trying to come up with plans to defeat everyone that the portal-villain was dropping in. Thankfully Kacchan had taken the initiative and was going ham at anyone that seemed susceptible to her quirk, while Momo had taken the role as second-in-command, doling out tactics when he had his hands full with a batch.

"Pneumatic lance" His left gauntlet announced the large blunt tip of the upper guard shooting out with immense power, launching a villain with a mutation quirk that caused her to be overly muscular with spikes coming out of her shoulders, back to her allies, making them all crash into the wall knocked out.

"Kaminari, they have some using conductive weapons, use your quirk against them, think of them like they are huge lightning rods." He ordered- but was cut short.

"I saw enough," the portal villain hummed as suddenly the ground became pitch black.

Izuku looked at Shoko, who had just lifted her foot to reposition herself-

_Oh no._

The class now found themselves back in the main clearing, the villains giving them a wide berth.

He was instantly aware of the teachers' states.

The abomination was holding both Thirteen and Aizawa up, both looking barely alive, let alone conscious.

Aizawa looked like both her arms were turned into jello and Thirteen… her suit had been torn asunder

"Oh, you all…" the light blue haired villain with hands all over muttered, "Glad to see the main course is here."

He looked back at his class for an instant.

He wasn't really liking his chances, too many variables, he didn't have time to charge One For All…

_And if they disposed of the teachers that easily…_

Dread started to spark in him.

_No- _He forced a smile- _I am not going to show weakness. I will be just like All Might_

"A man… so the rumors were right." the villain hummed.

"And he seems to be a capable leader too; we lost half our men to his tactics," the portal villain announced, blinking into reality in her physical form, wearing a tuxedo and metal bracings around her neck, next to what seemed to be the leader.

"Is that so…?"

Aizawa flinched.

_NO!_

"**Noumu…**"

"**Kill ****_him_ ****first.**"

Izuku barely had time to raise his left gauntlet up to block the punch.

The next few seconds happened almost in slow motion to the class and teachers.

The punch hit his raised gauntlet, and the metal bent; the sickening sound of metal shearing and bones breaking echoed throughout the USJ.

The punch followed through, the bloody mess of meat and shrapnel that used to be his arm slammed against his head and another sickening creak echoed the expansive space.

Izuku ragdolled.

His body slammed against the ground and bounced once.

His head rolled to the side, neck bending in an unnatural angle.

His now hollow and lifeless eyes looked aimlessly towards his class.


	21. Do not go gentle to that good night

"D-deku?" Ochako whimpered, looking at the unmoving body of her classmate. Her hands trembling.

The villains started to laugh, watching the class come into terms with what had just happened.

" Vitals fading… " his right gauntlet all but whimpered.

Katsumi was the first to start crumbling. "W-what…"

She took a few steps forward, not caring about the abomination that was staring down at them, her pupils shrunken and shaky; just a few steps away lay the body of her fallen childhood friend.

"N-no..." Momo mumbled, eyes already tearing up.

Shoko couldn't breathe.

"Th-this is a dream right-" Katsumi whimpered, her legs finally failing her, collapsing on her knees. "G-get up…"

The whole class was starting to break down. Mina bawling her eyes out, Minerva whimpering about being too young to die, Ochako's eyes growing dull and manic-

"GET UP YOU BASTard!" Katsumi screamed voice cracking in the middle of her outburst, punching against the ground.

No movement.

No breath.

Nothing...

"W- why.." she sobbed openly, joining the rest of her more emotional classmates. "Yo-"

She hiccuped. "Y-you don't deserve this…" she weakly punched the ground again.

"You didn't deserve _any _of this…"

"Bakugou..." Momo stepped forward. "W-we- we need to get out of here..." She tried to place her hand over the now sobbing woman, only for her to jerk her shoulder away.

"No need to hurry," the leader of the villains taunted, _enjoying _their suffering. "None of us are going to hurt you yet."

Aizawa whimpered, looking at the _corpse _of her student.

* * *

He hated his body.

At that moment he truly did.

His cervical vertebra had dislocated, tearing the neural pathways. Breaking his brain's connection to the rest of his body.

He couldn't move-

He couldn't breathe-

He knew he was dying.

And he could do nothing to avoid it.

Total Command was useless now; he couldn't control his body, not with his connection severed.

He couldn't even die faster. His pacemaker nerve keeping his heart rate high enough to keep him alive.

He was stuck there.

Suffocating inside his own body.

He knew that at one point his body would pass on as his cells started to die by the lack of oxygen.

But until that moment, he was stuck there.

On the ground.

Trapped in his own body, watching his-

Watching his first true friends suffer and mourn him.

His vision started to fluctuate, the color fading, his brain not having enough oxygen to keep it steady.

He would have cried if he could.

He really hated his body.

* * *

"W-what are you going to do to us?" Mina whimpered, taking a step closer to Eiko.

"Kill you off one by one when we get bored…" the leader chuckled. "So keep the tears rolling. It's fun to watch."

"**No.**"

Everyone was surprised to hear Ochako have so much _hatred _in her voice.

She took a few steps forward looking ready to lunge at them all.

"Uraraka-" Tsuyu grabbed her shoulder. Ochako looked back with so much anger to make the frog-woman flinch.

"**Let me go.** " She hissed. Tsuyu's grip started to weaken " **I need to make em' pay.**"

"Uraraka- they _killed _our strongest fighter. With. One. Punch." She croaked. "I am not letting you throw away your life."

She pulled her shoulder back hard, causing Tsuyu to fumble and let go.

"He saved it once. If puttin' my life on the line means I could do somethin' to pay him back... I'm takin' my chances." She hissed.

* * *

Bakugou started to raise up, surprising Momo "_ You…" _ She grunted, eyes raising up to look back at the monster that took _her _Izuku away..

The monster that just made her darkest nightmares become a reality.

"I am going to _kill _you."

No bravado, no scream, no pride.

She was stating a fact.

Momo didn't know what to do, and started panicking.

"S-stop- dont-" she grabbed onto Katsumi. "Izuku wouldn't have wanted this!"

Katsumi flinched.

"What do you know?" she grunted shoving out of the other girl's weak grip "Besides. Why would I care what he thought?"

"'Because you loved him too!" she whimpered, not being able to hold herself back.

"You are dumber than I thought," Katsumi growled.

"Why the fuck would I love the idiot who would stand out in the rain trying to find a cat cause he heard it meow." Her hands clenched, trembling

"Why would I ever feel something for the asshole that just wouldn't give up his dream? Or me- chasing after me even when I was making his life miserable?"

Momo let out a choked out sob.

"Why thE FUCK WOULD I FALL FOR THE BASTARD THAT DIED ON ME AFTER ALL OF THAT?"

Ochako had managed to walk up next to her, even with the rest of the class trying to hold her back, by the time Katsumi was done with her rant.

"Oh this is priceless!" The leader cackled manically. "Love is going to win the day girls~"

Her laughter died, edges of a smile showing from around the hand on her face.

"**Noumu, kill them both.**" Her words hit the students with the force of a truck, and the beast flinched, its eyes locking onto the two.

"**Make it slow, I want to hear their resolves die first.**"

* * *

Izuku was sure his brain was shutting down now. He was having full visual and auditory hallucinations, Ochako snapping like that… and Katsumi-

Not to mention the 8 voices screaming inside his head.

He wasn't sure if those were just the last firings of neurons that were now truly dying, or society was just incredibly wrong on their idea of after-life.

One sounded… familiar?

Then… he stopped caring.

He just…

Couldn't.

His brain simply didn't have the power to.

It was a weird sensation.

Having the clarity of death envelop him...

* * *

The two heroes-in-training didn't even stand a chance.

Noumu had grabbed onto both of Ochako's wrists in one hand, and simply tanked Katsumi's explosions wrapping both of them in a tight hug.

The girls squirmed at first, then started screaming when the beast added pressure their bones groaning and popping under the stress.

Nobody could move. Not a single twitch of a muscle. They were all paralysed by fear and despair as they watched two more of their classmates start to die.

* * *

He heard the scuffle and in his last moment before his vision fully left him he saw the beast grabbing onto the two women.

He heard their screams.

His own scream joined the eight.

A neuron.

A single neuron.

A single motor neuron, with the soul function of giving his neck goosebumps.

It managed to spark for an instant.

It's axons triggered another.

That one spark was all he needed.

His diaphragm contracted, chest heaving as he took a sharp intake of air, rapidly oxygenating his blood.

Noumu's crazed look shifted to one of camaraderie, as though hearing its own kind; it started turning to face the source of the sound.

His eyes regained their life, and his brain blared to life; the neural pathways of his spine healing rapidly, using nearly all of his stored stem-cells.

His body burst with nine different colors of lightning.

Suddenly everything was clear, almost in slow motion.

_I need to save them._

"CHAIN SWORD" his one functional gauntlet _screamed_

He was on his feet before the rest of the thought processed.

Multiple sections of solid titanium alloy burst out from under forearm plating, quickly aligning and collapsing into a large broadsword.

Noumu, even with its high acceleration quirk didn't have time to react as its arms were liberated from its body.

Both Ochako and Katsumi fell to the ground gasping for breath, looking at the crippled monster, large black arms bleeding profusely at their sides.

"** _Fuck._ **" his voice sounded demonic reverberating out of his broken trachea.

He stabbed the sword coming out of his gauntlet through the beast's chest laterally.

"** _You._ **" He heaved with all the power One For All gave him, tossing the Noumu to the side, the abomination crashing into the staircase and getting embedded in it.

The lightning arcing throughout his slouching body became uniform, fading back into a pure green.

Katsumi started crying again, smiling this time. Ochako finally let her own tears fall.

The sword collapsed back into his arm and he grabbed onto his own head which was hanging slackly against his chest. He pulled it back up and forced his neck muscles to snap the misaligned joints back into place, his head twisting around slowly, his emerald eye glaring over his shoulder to the crowd of villains.

An eye; shining a piercing, radioactive green.

Even with the broken left arm hanging limply, bleeding onto his white pants and staining them red, he looked like their nightmares combined.

They all shuddered.

"** _Katsumi. You take care of Handmaid's Tale over there."_**

**_"Shoko, on me, we are killing whatever the fuck that thing _****_is._ **"

"** _Hana, Doi, you take care of portal bitch."_**

**_"Momo, you take point on the rest of the class. Grab the teachers."_**

**_"Let's show these shit-stains why you don't. Fucking. Mess. With. UA."_**

Everyone looked at him. His classmates starting to cry harder, this time with happiness and relief.

The leader broke through the sobs of his classmates."YOU-YOU _CHEATER! _" She screamed.

"A MAN WITH A QUIRK? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! YOU ARE CHEATING! YOU CAN'T HAVE AN EXTRA LIFE! YOU SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GET BACK UP! " She continued her childish tantrum.

"** _What?_ **" the lightning surrounding him started growing wilder, his trachea creaking as surrounding muscle tissue pulled it to shape, the cartilage healing rapidly. " **_You attacked us a_ **_nd you don't know ou _r motto _?" _His voice slowly returning to normal as he went on.

One for All's lightning struck Katsumi, eliciting a soft groan, then it hit Ochako resulting in a similar reaction.

"When your body is at its limit, force it to take the next step."

The villains watched in fear as the green lighting started arcing between the group of students that were _just _lost in despair.

"Push beyond your limits; Go beyond what you could."

They weren't lost anymore.

Their eyes had changed, their _posture had changed. _The scared and hopeless looks vanished, now replaced with one of pure unadulterated _determination _.

Suddenly the villains felt like they were the fish stuck in the barrel.

"**PLUS ULTRA!**"

None of them were ready for the student's retaliation.

* * *

Ecstatic wasn't an emotion Kyoka felt that often. But after watching Izuku get back up, there was no other way to describe what she was feeling.

Then the lightning started- a part of her knew she should have been scared, but her logical side opposed that.

_No way Izuku would do something to hurt us._

And when the lightning struck her. She was bombarded by raw unfiltered hope; making her heart swell and head clear.

_We can win this, _her brain echoed.

It sounded like _him _. Him whispering encouraging words right at her ear, intimate and empowering.

_We _**_will_ **_beat them._

* * *

Katsumi was shooting through the air before the leader could respond to Izuku's war-cry, using a shockwave to send the hand-covered form stumbling out of the central field, back up the stairs she was standing in front of.

Momo quickly generated a diamond-encrusted, graphene pole; tossing it to Doi. "That villain has metal on her neck, get the tip above her and the ground."

"And. Let. Everything. Loose."

Doi's golden eyes sparkled as she smirked, grabbing the pole out of the air. "I thought you'd never ask."

Hana grabbed onto her waist and used her tape to rapidly pull both of them towards the portal villain, who was staring in shock at the spot where the leader had disappeared to.

Ochako was right next to Izuku by the time Shoko had joined his side.

"I'm joining in."

He looked at her, focused eyes piercing her down to her soul. "Ochako…"

She shuddered a bit; she never knew how much she _needed _to hear him say her given name until now.

"Your power is better at taking down groups," he stated.

"But-" she tried to argue. _I- I don't want to lose y-_

"Don't worry. They had their chance." His voice grew softer as his head snapped looking at the Noumu, its arms had regenerated, and was pulling itself out of the hole it was in

"They already lost."

With that, he lunged towards the beast, Shoko ice-surfing after him

* * *

The group of villains started shivering hearing that last sentence.

"W- what is he talking about?" one whimpered. They were never the type to go against stronger opponents.

This was _not _part of their agreement.

"Why are you getting so scared?" one of the younger, less experienced villain mocked. She didn't know the feeling of defeat yet. "Just a bunch of students- let's just kill them all."

The villains, against their better judgment, rallied a charge at the group of students just as the Noumu roared and pounced towards Izuku and Shoko

* * *

Izuku, still covered in lightning, countered the Noumu's punch with relative ease this time, redirecting the unstoppable force behind its hand towards the ground without a second thought.

He didn't know what was going on. Everything was happening so suddenly, but at the same time; moving in slow motion.

Then again he didn't have time to think about that.

"Shoko." He said quietly, the woman in question freezing the limb at the spot it had struck the ground.

As the Noumu was trapped, he ax-kicked its exposed brain. But the beast didn't even budge under the weight of the blow.

"_ Just what is your quirk?" _He hissed jumping back, Shoko sliding next to him as the Noumu broke out of the ice keeping it trapped and roared.

"You'll figure it out if we beat it enough," Shoko said simply.

"Yeah, but it would be so much easier if it just told us."

* * *

Katsumi was keeping her distance from the villain, only using medium range blasts to knock the fucker around.

The leader panted, "Why are you keeping your distance? Scared after I killed your boyfriend once?"

Katsumi smirked, "You see, that doesn't work when you are panting and need to specify 'once'"

The villain grunted and dashed at her, Katsumi dodging with an explosion to the side, both damaging her assailant and avoiding her grip.

"You are really shit at your job aren't you?"

The villain's eyes started to glow red with rage.

* * *

"Slippery brats!" The portal villain hissed as Hana pulled Doi away from yet another gateway.

Doi was laughing her ass off the whole time.

"You thought we would just stand around and let you warp us?"

Hana was smiling widely underneath her helmet. "Guess she did!"

* * *

"Uraraka!" Tomoyo called.

Ochako ducked under another villains attack, touching her chest. "Bye~" she muttered before Tomoyo kicked her with all her power, Ochako releasing her quirk just before the villain slammed against her other allies.

"That's another three," Tomoyo breathed raising back up.

"How many left?" Ochako huffed.

"Not enough to keep us down!" Tomoyo announced voice determined.

"You gotta little of the Deku mindset in ya'!" Ochako giggled, "But I guess we all do now."

Both heroes-in-training turned to face the remaining villains. "Let's show 'em, shall we, Iida?" The gravity-breaking girl dropped to stance.

"Right!" Tomoyo said, grinning under her faceplate.

* * *

Aizawa was not sure what, _the actual fuck _, was going on as of this moment.

One second, she was staring at her dead student, the student she had failed so miserably.

The next, he was standing back up, all of 1-A screaming in a war cry, taking on the villains like well-oiled machine.

Now she was getting carried by Rikku, with Mai carrying Thirteen beside them?

"W-what?"

"We got you sensei- don't worry."

* * *

"I wouldn't move if I were you," a villain threatened, holding up Minerva in one hand. "One false move and grape-head over here becomes _Grape-juice. _"

Momo's eyes locked onto the Villain, one of the thirteen left after their failed counter-attack.

"Fuck it."

A gunshot echoed through the USJ.

The rest of the students, as well as some of the villains, stopped and looked at the source; Momo.

Standing there with a _shotgun _in her hands.

Then their eyes drifted to the villain holding the miniature woman, she coughed and fell to her knees. A bean bag dropped from her chest, and her hand went to the location, gripping onto the bruised flesh, letting the shortest of the class go in the process.

Minerva dashed behind Momo the moment she was freed from the grip

The creation quirk user cocked the weapon, the used shell ejecting and clattering on the floor as a fresh round was chambered.

"Anyone else with bright ideas?"

Five villains surrendered at that moment.

* * *

Shoko noticed it first.

Izuku was slowing down, and panting hard. The lightning was starting to fluctuate.

"You can't keep this up," she simply said and he groaned in response.

"I know, but the bastard keeps regenerating." He huffed dodging another attack from the, now delirious beast.

"SO YOUR QUIRK IS DECAY, HUH?" Katsumi's voice echoed from the side.

Izuku turned to Shoko, eyes widening as a grin curled on his lips.

"I have a plan." he said reaching into one of his pockets with his right hand.

* * *

_He better have fucking heard that._

Katsumi huffed, dodging another swipe from the woman with one of her gauntlets reduced to dust.

"SHOKO, PLAN 15-M!" His voice echoed.

Katsumi remembered the times they played villains and heroes as kids.

_15-M… Lead them to each other?_

_You madman… _she smirked.

She started dodging towards the Noumu, the villain taking the bait, hook line and sinker.

Izuku's eyes and hers met for a second.

"JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!" the villain screamed and lunged.

" Grenade Launcher: Smoke round "

The area was covered in white smoke.

The villain's eyes widened as the Noumu, not the Explosion heroine, appeared in front of her.

_No!_

Suddenly two hands grabbed her own from behind and pushed them onto the Noumu's exposed brain.

**_NO!_**

"I told you I would kill you," Katsumi said to the now dying abomination, limbs anchored by ice; its inhuman shrieks filling the USJ.

Izuku was by her side holding the leader's other hand.

The villain looked at the two of them with hatred. "USING FRIENDLY FIRE? YOU ARE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW!"

Izuku looked down, face devoid of any emotion.

"I told you. You lost the moment you messed up your chance."

"** _What, killing you?_ **" She seethed, too angry to even scream.

"No," his grip tightened around her hand "The chance to leave when you got here."

"You lost this fight the moment you started it."

Katsumi looked at him.

_Guess I did rub off on him?_

She wasn't sure if her heart was beating faster cause of the adrenaline or _him _.

The Noumu stopped screaming and went limp.

" Signal re-established "

"Huh?"

* * *

Hatsume's tablet screeched with a torrent of notifications.

She woke back up, rubbing her eyes, looking at the messages. "He got back in rang-"

'Left gauntlet; no signal'

Her stomach dropped

'Right gauntlet; user log:

User health critical

User vitals falling

Her grip tightened around the instrument, hands and breath shaking.

Blood oxygenation 6%

Brain death imminent

A single tear landed on the screen.

She didn't- couldn't- read further than that.

"MECHA-MIGHT WHERE DID THEY GO!?" She screamed, dashing out of her room.

_Please be alive._

_Oh god- please be alive... _

* * *

Mecha-Might burst into the support workshop, shocking both Nozomi and Power Loader.

"**Ç̿L̮̈A̚͜S̝̈S̨͗ ̗̊1̝͘-̜͘Ă̠ ̠̌N͍͗E͖̓Ȅ͟D̠̓S̠̿ ̽ͅĂ͍S̼͠S̾͢I̝̚S̹̉T̡̉A̩̕N̜͒C̜̎E̗̊ ̧̄A͈̾Ṭ̎ ͈̍U̥͊S̞͘J̫͡ ̧̈́N̮̚Ő͔W̳͝!̫̿**"

"WE ARE GOING AHEAD" Mei added, hanging behind the being of steel and wire, with that the two dashed off

"Wha- US-" Power Loader was cut off by the principal slamming her paw on the table.

"It _was _a declaration of war!"

Nozomi grabbed a hold of the teacher P.A. system.

* * *

Midnight looked to the gaunt frame of All Might, an eyebrow raised. "Is that really your true-"

"CONVERGE TO USJ! NOW!" They both looked at their pagers.

"Isn't that where 1-A-" They both looked at each other, realization setting in.

All Might buffed up.

* * *

The gateway villain hesitated for a second as she heard the Noumu start screaming in pain.

That was the second Doi and Hana needed.

Suddenly Doi, with her baton, was above the villain's head, a wicked glint in her electrified eyes.

"Check-mate~"

Her body started to crackle, electricity traveling through the super-conductive graphene core of the baton and out the exposed tip.

"GUIDED DISCHARGE, 1,300,000 VOLTS!"

The arcs of electricity instantly sought out the path of least resistance.

Which just so happened to be through the villain's body.

Physics is awesome like that.

The gaseous villain collapsed on the floor, smoking slightly.

* * *

The ceiling of the USJ burst open so did the main gates.

"HAVE NO FEAR!"** " ̲͑H̡̊A̺͑V̩̌E͟͝ ̠̽F͉̈́E̞͐Ả̘R̨͗"**

Dust cleared; Mecha-Might was falling down to the ground, All Might was scowling at the gates.

"FOR I AM HERE!" "**F̱͆Ō̰R̖͛ ̛̩Ị̆ ̟̍A̱͐M̼͊ ̋͟E̞͆V̦̍E̡̾R͍̓Ȳ̢WͅH̳̓E̥̚R̡̚Ę̿**!̟͑"

The leader, looked at the All Mights "No! NO! NOT NOW! NOT WHEN I LOST MY TRUMP CARD!"

"KUROGIRI!" the gateway villain twitched, and as Hana and Doi watched the two new arrivals, she disappeared into the ground.

Katsumi's grip slacked, and Izuku noticed it. "No wait-" before the villain could capitalize on it Mecha-Might landed behind them.

"IZUKU!?"

Hearing Mei's voice so _distressed _caused his own grip to falter. "Mei?"

"GOT YOU NOW HEROES!" The leader broke free of their grip, reaching towards the two students.

"**Ÿ̡́o̗͘ǔ̩ ̩̎h͈͡a̦͝v̳̒ë͇́n̘͛'̚͟t̤͂** ̺̓'got' ͎̇**a̛͓ṇ̿ý̺ơ̮n͜ẻ̢**" Mecha-might hissed, stepping onto the would-be attacker, knocking the wind out of her and trapping her hands under her body.

"y-YOU!" She choked looking up to the machine with pure contempt. "YOU ARE JUST LIKE THAT FRAUD!"

"**Ḁ̆n̝̽ḍ̋ ̫͞ỵ̒o͒ͅǔ͈ ͊ͅå̪r̼͝e͑͢ ̩̆d͉̈́e̻̿f̖͘ḛ͊ạ͌t̗̅ĕ̫d̮͑.̮̂**"

"I'LL KILL-" a portal opened underneath the leader. Izuku's brain finally clicked into gear. "YOU!"

"WATCH OUT!"

He tackled Mecha-Might away from the portal as the leader was swallowed by it, the portal fading immediately.

The mech righted itself in order to avoid crushing Mei under its weight. Izuku, still going cause of the momentum, rolled on his back next to it, left arm still bleeding.

"I-" Mei was sobbing uncontrollably. "Izu-" Mecha-might kneeled next to the man, Mei all but crawling off its shoulders towards him. "Izuku... A-are you...?"

He started laughing. "W- we actually did it..." His eyes opened, and he smiled at Mei who just dropped onto him, hugging him for dear life, as if her grip was the only thing keeping him alive.

" Bio-sonar " his gauntlet opened up and he gently placed his hand on top of her head, leading it towards the center of his chest, fingers gently combing her hair, letting her hear his steady heartbeat. "It's fine Mei. I'm here. I am not going anywhere." Although she still shook, her sobs quieted down.

He looked towards Katsumi, who was looking away slightly ashamed.

"Mei, I need to ask everyone something- don't be startled," he gently patted her head.

"STATUS REPORT!"

He was answered a few seconds later when the rest of the class ran up the stairs; half of the girls basically falling on top of him and joining into the hug, avoiding the mangled mess that was his left arm. Their voices mixed together like an angelic chorus to his ears: 'I was so scared.' 'Never do that again.' 'You're such an idiot.' 'I can't believe you're alive.' 'Mate with me, ribbit.' 'That was so manly!' 'That was the coolest thing ever.'

"Sixty villains defeated, two escaped. Both teachers were injured, but are currently stable. And one student injured," Tomoyo said removing her helmet and tucking it under her arm, a relieved smile on her face. "You."

_They're safe. They're all safe._

He couldn't help but laugh harder.

* * *

][

* * *

**A/N: Like I'd end it like that.**

**See you at the next one, sorry about the fake-out, I just had to**


	22. My heart is strong I will prevail

She had expected the worst while she was dashing towards the USJ, at speeds she could barely keep up in her deteriorating body. She didn't even think about forcing herself that far. Her students needed her; her successor needed her. No matter how much her body protested she was going to get to the USJ; she would make whoever decided attacking there was a good idea _pay._

When she burst through the gates she was expecting mayhem. Hurt students, villains almost winning.

What she didn't expect was to see the central clearing with 15 students tying up various villains, or using Minerva's quirk to stick them together. Each villain sported a wide range of injuries; bruising, acid burns, bleeding ears, and so much more. Some even appeared to be unconscious.

She almost swore out in English seeing that.

All her years of being the number one hero hadn't prepared All Might for this: Seeing villains almost relieved to see her. Her eyes scanned and saw Mai and Rikku placing Aizawa and Thirteen down a ways away from the crowd of _… Jesus, 60?_

The students relaxed as she walked up, glaring at the villains. "Students, are you alright?" she bellowed, her voice sounding colder than usual, making the villains flinch slightly from the power behind her voice.

Momo was the one to respond, looking up from her spot; she had been producing kevlar rope from her back, along with a few medical supplies to give first aid to the two teachers. "Oh thank god-" she mumbled rising up. "We- we are all fine" she answered, still some worry in her voice over Izuku's condition, the rest of the students nodded along.

"STATUS REPORT!" Izuku's voice echoed from the other side of USJ. The class jumped, turning immediately towards the source.

All Might crouched down near the teachers, giving a sideways glance to the class. "I am here, you can go ahead."

The class didn't need to be told twice as they dashed off.

Aizawa smirked softly from her spot, almost chuckling. "They just broke their dash records from the first day."

The number one hero looked at the homeroom teacher. "You should try to preserve your energy, those wounds look...stable, but debilitating. There's no need to strain your body more."

"Feh," she huffed. "Plus ultra."

All Might shook her head. "What happened anyway?"

The _Villains _answered, "All Might, you've gotta get us out of here! Please just take us to Tartarus: those kids are _insane _!"

"Let me rephrase that; what did you **do**?" She asked, voice even harsher than before.

"W-we followed this villain to attack you-" the villain replied sweating, "and she commanded this- w-was it called Noumu?" the rest of the conscious ones nodded.

"She told it to-" she gulped, "k-kill some of the students..."

All Might cracked her knuckles absentmindedly, making them flinch again.

"B-but-but it failed" she blustered, trying to scoot away from the #1 hero, failing miserably.

The younger one that had just tasted defeat huffed, "It killed that guy, but he got back up."

All Might loomed over the villain, her blue eyes shining with the promise to maim them more than they could imagine their bodies surviving.

They all remember the looks 1-A gave them, with that _man _standing at the forefront, and shivered.

_Oh, God. It's the same- they are all the same- why did I even become a villain; heroes are goddamn_**_ TERRIFYING_** they thought in unison.

* * *

"SORRY EVERYONE!" The teachers Of UA announced, dashing in from the gates All Might had torn open. "WE ARE-" They saw the _lack _of chaos: Villains tied up and whimpering in the central plaza; the students grouped across the other side of the USJ, some seemingly hugging the ground in a pile. "A Little late _?... _"

"What?" Shiori blustered looking at the villains, the group going down the stairs, Recovery Girl rushing to the side of Aizawa, Hitomu to Thirteen's trying to repair her suit; it looked like it was already patched up.

Snipe whistled. "Damn, you work fast, Might!"

"They were like this when I got here," the number one admitted, taking a few steps back from the villains.

"Wait- so Aizawa...?" they looked at the teacher in question.

"It was 1-A, I took down only 10," She huffed, wincing as Recovery Girl berated her for talking.

Nozomi started cackling.

"Ok, ok I just gotta..." Hikaru looked up to the ceiling. "WHAT THE **_FUCK!?_ **"

"This year is really promising," Cementoss rumbled, shaking her head.

* * *

The scream pulled the class's attention; Mai being the tallest saw them first.

"The teachers are here," she said matter of factly from a mouth on the tip of one of her tentacles.

Minerva, who was being held back by Shoko from joining into the hug-pile, huffed and muttered "finally" under her breath.

Kyoka shot up from the pile, dusting herself and straightening her hero costume; She did not want to be seen hugging Izuku by the teachers of all people. Then she noticed it...

The dead body of the beast that had almost killed Izuku.

"What are we gonna do about that?" she muttered, turning her head away from the stump that used to be its head. Thankfully, There was no gore, she wasn't the best at handling that. And it wasn't regenerating anymore, so that was a plus.

"**S͓̋c̟a͚̍n̮̐s̡ d̛͓ō͚n'̪t̟̀ e͓̚ve̜̊n̙̂ ͕̓pi͎̍c̲͝k ̱̌i̛͕t͌͟ u͚͠p̨̌ as̨̃ ͔͑ǎ̤ hum̯̊a̜͛n̲̔," ** Mecha Might grumbled, walking away and leaving the rest of the class to continue hugging the boy. "**N̫o͓̐ŕ͉ ̢̇d͎̆ò̡es̽͟ ̫̔i̤͝t͚̓ ̘̈ḥ̒a͈v̭͋e͕̿ ̮͘a̼̅n͑͜y ̳̕v̔ͅī̗tal̟s͒͟ t̞̎o̯͗ ̜̚spe̟̚ak ̙̾of̟͋. ͍̒Y̭͘oū̳ c̛̣a̡̔n r̙͂e͍̔l͚̿a̓͜x̠̄,̩͂ y̝͂oun̛͇g̤̚ ̒͟J̡̋ir̻̋o̕͜ũ̞.**"

"You killed that thing?" Nozomi mumbled, from her spot on Midnight's shoulder, whose eyes looked _worried? _as she made it up the stairs, Recovery Girl in tow.

"Any students hurt?" the elderly hero muttered looking over the group of young adults.

"OH"

Tsuyu, Eiko, Mina, Tooru, and Doi all got off of Izuku; Ochako and Momo flinched, then scrambled off of him, realizing just what they were doing, blushing wildly.

The action let Recovery Girl see the damage done to his arm, and she rushed to his side. " I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T A CHALLENGE" she screamed, making him wince and Hatsume to grip onto him tighter. He chuckled weakly.

Hearing him laugh put Midnight in ease. She gave a breath of relief and turned her focus to the dead Noumu.

"Sorry, it turns out an 'All Might-killer' hits harder than a steamroller."

Chiyo huffed "_ fine _you get a pass this time." She looked at Mei, who was still hugging onto him tightly, ear against his sternum, eyes squeezed shut as she listened to his heartbeat.

"You need to get off him young'un. I can't see if there is more damage with you there" She hummed, Mei didn't budge.

"I sai-" Izuku shook his head, his gaze causing the Youthful Heroine to stop.

"Mecha Might, if you could" he hummed.

"What are you-" Recovery girl questioned as the machine walked forward and hummed; scanning him.

"**Bǒ̼t͇͊h ̜͂th̺͌e ̢̍l̲̀e̞̒f͓͂t͉͋ ͓̎ǔ̡l̹̔n̫͘ã̙ ̯̈a̟͑n̢̒d̥̕ r̫̅â͓di͍͂us̜͝ ͉̑a̭̅r̢͆e̩̓ ̑͢pȗ͙lv̭̌ȅ̥ṟ͗i͉̅zȇ̻d͓̾, ̪̓h̥̅um̱̅e͎͌r͕̽us fr̭̊ac̪tu̟̽r̺̊e̻̍d ̣̚a̮͠n̾͜d͇͝ ̪̃t͎͋wi̛͉s̺͑ẗ̬́ed͈̿ to̩̾ ̖̽t̤͗h̬̋e̩̕ ̧̔s͍̉i͖̅dẻ̖-̲̅ tḩ̌ẽ̤r̩͐e'̡͆s ̰̎ś̮o̱͡me̦͂ ̖̐dam̡͋a̮̅g̿ͅe͔͑ to t̰͑h̡͐e ̢͛ṯ͊è͜n̏͢d̼͝o͇̕n̹̅s aṇ̃d̲̏ t̞͠h̗̓e̦͞ ͖̐c̺̒onṉ͊ê͍c͓͗ţ̛i͓͒v͍͛ẻ̬ ͅt͛͟i̻͗ss̪̾ue͙͘ o͚̅f͚͑ th̝͝e ͇̑sp̬̿in͔͐e,̡̒ b͡ͅut͐͢ ̯̓i̦̕t̢̛ ̯̾ĺ̖o͔͝oķ̿s̤͡ ̺͝hę̈́ä̮́l̤͆è̮d ̫̒o̘̽v̋ͅer̤͊.͇̔** " Recovery Girl grew paler with each sentence; Mei was shaking against his side. "**Ho͕̍w̪̐ are͉̚ ̞͝yo̱̔ú̥ e̳͗v̞͞ě͕n̳͒ ͎͊con̠̈s̮͐ci͙̍ou̟̎s ̥̓r͓͊i̳̇g̤͆ĥ̨ṱ̌ ̯͞n̲̎o͙̎w?̢̆**" the machine sputtered, its modulated voice getting meek.

"Oh- it's nothing really, I don't even feel it," he muttered internally wincing -_ Yeah, I'm feeling _**_all_ **_of that- _and yet still patting Mei's head. She would have moved off, but couldn't give up on the contact just yet. "Do you have any of those gummies, I kinda ran out of platelets, and I don't think bleeding out more is gonna help my health."

Recovery Girl seriously needed to talk to him about playing his injuries little mind after this. _But… _her eyes glanced over class 1-A, _You are toughing it out to not worry them, aren't you?_

She sighed, producing a handful of gummies from her coat. "You are gonna be a pain in my neck aren't you?" _Toshiko really picked a hell of a successor, didn't she? _

The class shuddered a bit at the memory of seeing Izuku's neck bending in ways it shouldn't have.

Recovery girl flinched at their reaction. _Wait, healed damage to the spine-_

_Oh…_

"Sorry that was not tactful of me, I meant pain in the ass- a force of habit." Katsumi started to chuckle.

He chuckled softly as well, the reverberation feeling like purring to Mei. "Its alright guys," he grabbed onto the gummies handed over by the nurse. "Sorry for making you all worry." he tossed the gummies down his throat, swallowing them with ease

"I'll make sure it'll never happen again," he mumbled, increasing his metabolic rate. His increased body temperature engulfing Mei in a soft warmth, putting her at ease as the rest watched the blood clots rapidly forming on his arm.

"You better not," some said softly, his light-hearted and easy-going tone making them feel relief.

* * *

Mei finally let go after the cops arrived, still not leaving his side. The rest of the class had left to give their testimonies.

She looked lost and scared, sitting next to him as he remained laying down. He requested that no one move him as he forced his body to heal up a little bit. "Did the gauntlet tell you what happened?" he asked, looking up to the ceiling.

"Yeah- I… I was so scared Izuku" She admitted looking down on him. It was weird; suddenly becoming the lead inventor on a high-end support company didn't matter as much as seeing him again, hearing his voice again.

Holding him close again...

Izuku's eyes drifted towards her's. They looked ready to burst with tears, and he felt his heart break seeing her like that. He groaned and sat up slowly, causing her to panic slightly. "I am not going anywhere, Hatsume." he pulled her into a one-armed hug, letting her head rest against his shoulder. "They'll need a lot more than an 'All-Might-killer' to keep me from coming back to you."

She whimpered, hugging him back. "Promise me." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Swear to me that you will always come back…"

He kissed the top of her head, hand combing through her hair. "I swear."

They hadn't noticed it yet, but Mei's heartbeat had synced with Izuku's after listening to it for so long.

* * *

"Deku- they are wanting your testimony now..." Ochako's voice trailed off as she saw them; Izuku sitting upright, Mei still at his side. _So she is the one he was talking about… the one Katsumi needed to apologize to. Hatsume was it?_

She gulped.

_They seem close…_

She didn't know why she wasn't feeling jealous this time.

_...huh…_

Maybe it was just her brain being thrown for a loop after seeing him die then come back to life, her outright joy of just seeing him move again overpowering other negative emotions.

Maybe it was because of the hug they all had just shared.

In any case, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Oh, Urara-" She pouted softly.

_I- I called her by her given name in the heat of the moment, didn't I?_

"O-Ochako?" She smiled a dazzling smile in response, Izuku looked lost for a second before continuing "C-could you activate your quirk on _just _my left gauntlet?"

She walked up and examined it "I- I should be able to- give me a second."

She gently tapped the mangled mess of metal, stealing its weight. Izuku let out a sigh as the 50-kilogram mass stopped weighing down on his broken arm. The weight of his flesh and blood arm kept it from floating upwards. "Thank you, you literal goddess," he hummed absentmindedly, walking towards the police.

Ochako started steaming, face flushed neon.

"I don't think we've met yet," Mei said, If Izuku was still in earshot he would have been worried over how calm she sounded "Hatsume Mei, support course."

"O-oh" Ochako's blush started fading, "Uraraka Ochako, Hero course A."

Hatsume hummed, her golden eyes focusing on hers and doing a once over of the brunette heroine; her signature smile returned full force. "You like him, too, don't you?"

Ochako sputtered out some disingenuous rejections of the idea, her blushing face betraying her words and causing Hatsume to giggle.

"Come to the workshop sometime, I'll build some gear for you." Ochako's blush evaporated, being replaced by a look of confusion.

"I-" Hatsume started looking away and scratching her cheek, smile faltering slightly. "I'm not the best fighter, I could never hope to keep up with him in something like this. But you can, so I need to ask you…"

"Please keep him safe out there?"

Ochako didn't know Hatsume, but at that moment the pink haired woman sounded so vulnerable, it caused the inner hero in the brunette to bubble up to the surface.

"You can rest easy, Hatsume." she smiled, trying to imitate an 'Izuku smile'.

"I'll keep him safe."

* * *

Midnight was at his side instantly, guiding him towards the police.

"You feeling ok? You don't need to do this now; they would understand" she muttered so only he could hear. "They know you had the worst experience here."

He shook his head. "That would be Aizawa, or anyone else, I didn't have to watch a friend die."

"Midoriya you almost _died _, how are you-" she huffed, "You need to stop acting strong; it's not healthy for you, neither mentally nor physically."

He chuckled bitterly. "If there is one thing Total Command gives me above all else, it's tenacity, Kayama-sensei." he said softly "Even before I knew about it I just kinda tanked the hits and kept going, living my life dreaming no matter the opposition, you know?" he looked at her, and she saw some unknown emotion just behind his eyes. _Determination? Sadness? Pure tenacity? _Whatever it was, it was captivating. "If I can just keep this long enough to not make them suffer any longer…" he sighed, "If I gave up on it now, I'm sure it would hurt me more than whatever just keeping it bottled would do to me."

Midnight was at a loss for words, it was the second time he had made her mind blank so hard that just walking was disorienting.

_I am going to, honest to god, fall for him if he keeps this up…_

"Fine," she huffed looking away, hiding her blush. "Just... If you need someone to talk to, I can listen anytime, alright?"

"I will keep that in mind, thank you..." he hummed, parting from her and heading towards the policewomen. Who, even with all the other student testimonies, were shocked to see a man in the hero course.

* * *

He was back at the main campus before he knew it, heading to the support workshop, where Power Loader was going to attempt to cut the crushed gauntlet off of his arm.

Mei was still at his side, refusing to let him out of her sight. Not that he could blame her; He would be doing the same in her situation.

He was just content to see her going back to the norm: happy and hyper, just the way he grew to enjoy.

"So recovery girl wants to see you after this?" she hummed.

"Yeah, she wants to try healing as much as she can after the gauntlet is off, called me a 'lucky bastard' for not needing the hospital, with the clots keeping my body stable so far and all."

"I guess you are, Mr. 'you need more than an All-Might-killer.'" She grinned, poking his shoulder.

He chuckled back "I really am..."

_For meeting you all…_

* * *

"So you are telling me.." he huffed eyeing the ungodly looking machine. "You are going to use a high power laser to cut this off?"

Power Loader shrugged. "I mean; we could use the drill if you want?"

_Yeah, ok, sure, we are doing this._

"Hatsume, you know how to use that thing?" he asked looking at his companion.

The woman in question perked up. "Do I? Of course I d-" she sputtered a bit. "You want _me_ to cut it off?"

"Well- your quirk _is _zoom, and you have impeccable hand-eye coordination." he shrugged "I wouldn't trust anyone else with this."

Power Loader looked at the two with a smile under her helmet. "I will try to not take offense to that," she hummed humorously.

He rubbed the back of his head slightly. "Sorry... didn't mean to; you know."

"Yeah yeah, I know the trust between a hero and their gear technician. Now take a seat before this bad girl overheats."

He took a seat and laid his left arm on the workbench, watching Mei take the controls of the large laser.

"Whenever you are ready, Izuku," she said, folding her goggles down, the ones he made, voice resolute. _I can do this._

"Go for it."

The laser hissed and shot down to the surface of the table, inching towards his arm. Then it finally passed over the iridescent green of the gauntlet, the metal hissing and growing redder with the heat, thankfully the alloy Mei had created was quite resistant to heat transfer, so the red patches did not spread out and burn his skin.

The laser made a U around his arm, close but not dangerously so, the two sides of mangled gauntlet clunking off immediately after the laser passed over them.

The laser stopped humming.

Mei gave a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Is it still stuck?"

Izuku grabbed onto the pieces still on his arm and pulled them off, reopening some wounds but the gauges clotting over faster than blood escaped. "Nope, you did great"

Power Loader looked away from the man tearing chunks of metal out of his arm.

* * *

The sound of kissing echoed through the hallways, the voice of Recovery Girl telling him to rest following soon after. With that Izuku and Mei exited the nurse's office, his left arm in a sling, bandaged heavily. Most of the damage was healed, his humerus twisted back and the shrapnel of his ulna and radius fused into manageable chunks. She would have done more, but was scared for his body running out of energy; possibly becoming comatose.

He yawned, Mei chuckled next to him. "You finally tired out?"

"I was running on fumes already" he admitted, Mei after little deliberation pushed her shoulder under his, wrapping his arm around her shoulders; supporting some of his weight.

"C'mon you can sleep all you want after you get to your room"

Izuku smiled tiredly giving her an unspoken thanks.

* * *

He finally crashed just outside the entrance of the dorms, Mei struggling to keep him from falling face-first to the floor.

"Jesus- how heavy are you?" she panted, stumbling in surprise as his weight disappeared.

"Well, he is _that_ muscular-" Ochako hummed from his other side, hand outstretched.

"Uraraka!" Mei smiled. "So that's your quirk!" She let go of Izuku, only holding him by the hand as she walked closer to the hero in training. "That's so cool, so many uses for it. Can you turn yourself weightless? What's your upper limit? Does the whole object become weightless? Is it really massless or do you just remove the effect of gravity on it?"

"W-what's the difference on that last one?" The gravity-heroine asked getting lost at the rapid-fire questions.

"Inertia," Momo answered, walking up to the two, eyeing the floating Izuku.

"See she gets it," Mei whooped. "Wait, who are you though?"

"Yaoyorozu Momo," she bowed politely. "And you are- Hatsume Mei right?"

"In the flesh," Mei chirped. "I see the stories of my babies have spread to the hero course."

"Well; It's more like Izuku kept talking about you at times;" she smiled, "a pleasure to finally meet the person that made him his gauntlets."

Mei blushed slightly. _Woah she is beautiful and high-class. _

_Wonder if she enjoyed the rest of Izuku's costume though…_

"Follow me, I know where his room is," Momo hummed taking point in the small group.

* * *

He woke up with a knock on the door. Groaning, he sat up, slightly wincing as the pain flooded back from his still broken left arm and some soreness from his aching muscles.

_That's new..._

He noticed a lump on his bed that wasn't usually there.

_That's also new._

He shifted the covers slightly to see Mei under there, wearing one of his shirts and boxers.

_She looks peaceful like that…_

Deciding that the issue about not sneaking into his bedroom could wait, he got out of bed to open the door. He was more than a little surprised to see Momo standing there in her sleepwear; a velvety red sleeping robe.

"S-sorry I didn't mean to wake you-" she said looking away.

He shook his head. "It's fine, Yaoyorozu." He leaned on the door frame, yawning. "What time is it anyway?"

"1 after midnight," she said shyly, a hint of red dusting her cheeks.

He looked back up with wide eyes. "What are you doing awake? You need rest after what we went through," he asked, still half asleep honestly.

"I-" she twiddled her thumbs bashfully. "I know but I couldn't sleep; I just keep seeing you… on the floor…"

_Oh…_

He rubbed his head, thinking a little in his groggy state. "Want to sleep with me?"

She blushed a crimson red, matching her robe. "M-Midoriya!"

"Not- not like that, just next to me…" He shrugged. "Might help having me close by to let you remember that 'he got back up' you know?"

She looked meekly at him.

_I came here to see that he was fine already, didn't I?_

_...being close to him would probably do better..._

"I-if you think it would help…" She said, following his lead back to his bed.

* * *

Katsumi shot up sweating and panting.

_A nightmare._

She rubbed her face, unwilling to close her eyes again.

She had dreamt herself dying right after Izuku, seeing him for one last time at the gates of heaven, only to get sent down to hell...

Never to see him again.

She cursed under her breath and walked out of her room.

She needed to see him one more time.

Even if it meant breaking into his room.

* * *

After wiping herself down from the sweat she set out in the darkened halls of the dorm.

She hesitated at his door; thankfully Eiko had blustered about having him as a room-neighbor, so she didn't have to guess.

...against her better judgment, she knocked at his door.

_What am I doing, knocking at his door at 4 am?_

To her shock muffled shuffling reverberated from the other side of the door. He opened it, standing tall in front of her. Wearing his stupid button-up T-shirt with 'Pajamas' written on it.

She hugged him immediately, unable to stop herself.

He hugged back without question. "I'm here Kacchan."

She hugged a little tighter. "This is why I didn't want you to be a hero…" she breathed.

"I- I never wanted to lose you."

"You won't," he hummed back, pulling her close.

"C'mon we all need rest," he mumbled groggily after a moment.

Katsumi didn't object to it, even after seeing the bed: Momo, Mei, Ochako, and _Kyoka? _Were all sprawled on it.

He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow again, the rest of the girls rolling towards his heat, smiling softly in their sleep.

Katsumi smiled softly as well, the fear from her nightmare having vanished as she found a spot on the large bed, curling close to him.

_None of us want to lose him… do we?_


	23. It is not our job to remain whole

Kyoka stirred in her sleep, yawning in the morning light. Slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes, feeling more rested than she had the past 6 nights in the dorms, even the covers on her felt different.

_Wait…_

Her vision cleared up, and her eyes were assaulted by posters of heroes, all over the walls. All Might being a predominant one.

_W-wait…_

She started feeling light-headed with the sudden rush of blood to her face, she knew she was blushing neon red right about now.

And she knew who's bedroom she was in.

Her eyes landed on the pile of bodies on the bed, Momo with her robe had somehow managed to curl up against Izuku's left shoulder, Mei over his torso her ear against his heart, Ochako on top of Mei, her cheek against Izuku's in a weird position that_shouldn't _have been comfortable to sustain, let alone fall asleep in.

Katsumi -_ Wait, when did she get here?- _was on the bed laterally, curled up on his legs.

And Mina was there? Sleeping on his waist? _What?_

_Just what happened last night?_

Her brain started to pull itself out of its morning haze, starting to rethread the last moments before she had drifted off to sleep.

She had a nightmare about just what the villains would have done to them after they were done killing Ochako and Katsumi, those dark and manic eyes of the Noumu looking forward even as it crushed the two hero-trainees in its grasp. Looking straight at the class with uncontrollable bloodlust.

She shivered remembering it, hugging herself close.

_Just think of something else. ANYTHING else._

Kyoka took a few breaths, trying to clear her head. Her eyes gravitating towards Izuku, remembering what he had done; the fuzzy sensation of the lightning he generated buzzing against her skin, imparting to her ideas and inspiration.

His eyes, glowing with both mirth and righteous anger, the same neon green the lightning he was producing en masse…

She knew she was blushing even harder now, but had calmed down somewhat.

_Well, at least it's not fear that's making my heart beat faster…_

Her jack moved over his face, prodding his nose gently, enough to make him scrunch his face cutely.

_Wait what am I doing?_

Her train of thought was cut short as Izuku shifted slightly, wrapping an arm around Ochako pushing her head under his chin in what looked like an act of intimacy. Which in turn moved his left shoulder, making Momo stir and start to wake.

She yawned softly, stretching out like a cat, her silky black hair cascading down her shoulders.

In the morning light, it looked like a waterfall of liquid obsidian.

Then she noticed where she was.

"O-oh…" She started blushing, not even registering Jirou next to her just quite yet. "He was right… again."

"Shut the fuck up…" Katsumi swore before turning a little and falling back asleep, scaring them both.

Momo's onyx eyes widened, looking down on Katsumi, then to Mina, up to Mei and Ochako, then to her side, seeing Kyoka stare back at her.

"When did you...?" The vice rep whispered, trying to not wake everyone up yet.

"I-I think it was 3 am? I'm not so sure, it's still kinda fuzzy" The punk girl whispered back. Even her sleeping gear was a band shirt coupled with what looked like some torn shorts.

"Nightmare?" Momo asked, already knowing the answer.

Kyoka just nodded in response.

"Would you two just shut _the fuck up? _" Katsumi whisper-shouted, shooting up from her spot.

Then she noticed where she was, and what she had been doing and with whom.

"Oh for fuck's sake," she grumbled under her breath a light dusting of red on her cheeks. Dragging a hand over her face, "When the hell did pinky get here?"

"How should _we _know that, dumbass?" Kyoka shot back, voice barely over a whisper. "We were aslee-"

Katsumi raised her hand to silence her. "Shh… don't wake him up."

Momo and Kyoka were shocked silent by the… _gentleness? _behind her voice, nothing like her usual tone. Even her eyes held a certain compassion that was just rising to the surface now.

_Woah…_

Izuku shifted back, releasing Ochako from his hug. His hand moving from her head to on top of Mei's, who almost purred with the contact.

"What are we watching right now?" Kyoka asked, baffled and silent.

_I mean it's cute but-_

"Something we should not be?" Momo mumbled, her hand cupping her own cheek, almost cooing internally at the sight.

Katsumi didn't respond just watched on.

Ochako was the next to wake up, stretching in the bed slowly, then raising up, almost sitting on Mei on the process and waking her up, too. Both yawned simultaneously.

"Mor'n." "It's morning?"

They both blinked, looking around them. "When did you all get here?" Mei groggily muttered, scratching her messy pink curls.

"I think it was like 2?" Ochako answered with a yawn, still not fully awake yet.

Then blinked again.

Her quirk activated on its own, making her float in the air, off the bed.

Kyoka watched her lift off. "And up she goes…"

That caused Mina to stir, starting to wake up herself. "M-" she yawned, rubbing her even messier pink hair. "Mornin' gals."

"God, what time is it eight…?" she groaned, sitting up. "Good thing classes for today were canceled."

Something sprung up along with her.

"Wha…" Mina looked down. They all did.

"I-Is that...?" Momo's eyes widened. Kyoka looked petrified with fear.

Katsumi looked like she was still trying to process what she was seeing, her face growing redder with each passing second.

Ochako quickly covered her eyes with her hands, peeking out between her fingers.

Mei wasn't even awake enough to register the implications.

"What's that supposed to be?" Mina slurred groggily flicking the alien object, causing Izuku to sigh in his sleep. "Silly Izuku, April fools was a month ago- too late to make a fake 'chest-burster' joke…" Another flick. "It's too low on your body anyway."

"M-mina that's..." Momo tried to explain what it was, getting too flustered to finish her thought.

Mei had gotten curious now and poked it, too. "Wobbles like a spring… a piece of the gauntlet?"

"You had springs that thick in those? How'd ya fit em?" Mina slurred looking at the fellow pinkette.

Izuku shifted a little more and started to wake up.

"Determination?" Mei shrugged.

"Huh- wha?"

His eyes opened and he saw Katsumi, Kyoka and Momo looking at him faces red as Momo's sleeping robe.

Well, not at him… lower on his body…

He followed their gaze and saw the issue.

He had an erection.

_Huh…_

Mei and Mina were pawing at it curiously.

_Huh…_

Mina flicked it again. "It really is springy."

Pleasure spiked through him, sobering him from the morning grogginess instantly.

"WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK?" he screamed, scrambling away from the contact, face flushing a deep red on the way, waking everyone up from their fluster-induced trances.

"FUCKING PUT THAT THING AWAY, DEKU!" Katsumi yelled, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Oh Izuku you are awake, what is that thing?" Mei asked, getting closer to it again causing him to grow even redder in the face.

_Wait, Total Command!_

He stopped the blood flow to the traitorous organ, causing it to go limp almost instantly.

Mina thought for a second still looking slightly drunk on sleep "Oh yeah…that's his dick, isn't it...?"

Mei tilted her head to the side, "Oh that's a penis?" then the realization hit her, her face freezing and starting to blush harder than she ever had before in her life.

His eyes locked onto the two for a second _How did you not realize what it was until now?_

"Thanks for comforting me after my nightmareMidoriyaIgottagotalktoyoulaterbye," Momo sputtered out, dashing out of the room.

"Yeahdittobye," Kyoka added unable to face him, her whole upper body looking red, dashing out of the door Momo had opened.

"Sorryfordisturbingyousolateatnight," Ochako stammered, managing to deactivate her quirk and scramble her way out after the two.

"Wait, don't fucking leave me behind with this bullshit!" Katsumi screamed dashing after them all.

Izuku watched with a slight sense of betrayal as they all ran out, leaving him there with a catatonic Mei and Mina who was looking unfazed.

_Why._

_Just why._

* * *

After pushing Mina out of his room, he slid down the door, groaning as he did so.

"I t-touched it" Mei's whisper echoed in his room, he wanted to slap his face with both hands, but his left arm was still broken to hell and back._ Good thing I didn't jostle it around too much. _

He slowly rose back up from his spot against the door. Wincing at his aching muscles.

_Wait a minute…_

He had heard that 'morning wood' was a common thing in men, but he had never had it happen to himself before; he hadn't questioned it until now.

_It was probably Total Command blocking it subconscio-_

_Wait if that was the case, why did I get it this time…_

_And why am I aching all over? I usually heal by no-_

_Oh no._

His face twisted in a mixture of emotions.

_I- it's just cause I used up all the stored stem-cells I had right…?_

_Wait, that doesn't explain the sudden unconscious reaction my body gave…_

He was honestly panicking now, his heart rate increasing rapidly.

_Ok ok, calm down, it was just physical contact with the girls- it's only natural for me to…_

_No, that can't be it, if that was the reason I would have had the same reaction when Mina hugged me after the combat training..._

_I didn't even think about stopping it that time; it was subconscious._

He flinched with the realization.

_I- I need to see Recovery Girl._

"Mei, I'm feeling better Imma go get Recovery Girl to heal the rest of my arm, I'll be back," he said too robotically,

Mei nodded absentmindedly in return, not even registering his words properly.

He didn't even change out of his pajamas, dashing out his room to the infirmary.

* * *

"RECOVERY GIRL!" he shouted, slamming open the door to the clinic, making the old nurse jump.

"Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack, Midoriya," she huffed looking at him tiredly. "Want me to heal the rest of-"

"I had morning wood!" He announced panic still in his face, panting slightly as he slammed the door behind him.

"... Come again?"

"I woke up with an erection."

Her eyebrow twitched "You come into my clinic with that obscenity sputtering out of your mouth?" As she went to smack him with her cane, he grabbed the makeshift weapon before it hit him in the head.

"It happened out of my control" he clarified, keeping the cane in place.

"Why does that matt-" she stopped trying to hit him with the cane, realizing **why **he was panicking.

"MRI scan- you need an MRI SCAN RIGHT _NOW! _"

* * *

Mei was still staring at one of the All Might posters in Izuku's room, still not moved from her spot.

"I touched it..." she mumbled again.

She didn't notice the bedding shift, nor the soft footsteps leaving the room, opening the door slowly and softly closing it.

_Woah, that was… something incredible to see..._

Tooru walked away, naked and slightly dazed.

_...I guess his size fits his… Size…_

* * *

"How-" she hissed looking at the screen in the viewing room, showing a picture of his brain. "How are you even alive?"

He didn't even twitch inside the scanner.

She slumped back to her chair. "Its neural atrophy; probably caused when your brain was deprived of oxygen, a large chunk of your cerebellum and brainstem looks to be dead."

She pushed the button, causing the table he was laying on to pull out from the large tube. "I have no idea how you are alive, let alone how we haven't noticed it til now. How did you even run here; your cerebellum is _basically dead: _how are you functioning?"

He sat up and looked down on his hands, moving them around experimentally. "Maybe parts of my cerebrum were repurposed to take its roles, too? I have no clue." His voice was muffled by the glass separating the MRI scanner from the viewing room.

"That explains why so much of the stuff I usually do without thinking isn't happening anymore."

Recovery Girl looked at him sadly. "So the parts that survived adapted to take the roles of the most essential functions?"

"That's my theory, repurposing the connective tissue of my brain to sustain life… Total Command could do that right?" he dryly laughed.

Recovery Girl sighed in resignation. "If that's the case, your nervous system behaves too abnormally for my quirk to work. God knows what would happen if I tried using it now, your brain might just implode."

"I agree." he hummed, starting to sit up weakly. "But hey, it'll heal with time, I am still generating stem-cells..." he stopped, eyes widening. "I-I think?"

_Oh God, that wasn't a conscious effort…_

"Relax, from what the scan shows me there is some new growth in the area, but nothing major," the youthful heroine huffed, zooming in on one of the stills of the scan, marking the recent growths between the dead neurons. "Either just thinking about it is causing your body to generate some, or there is enough surviving grey matter to force the creation of stem cells."

"Oh thank God," he huffed leaning down, rubbing his head in relief.

"You sound relieved to hear that you have _goddamn brain damage," _she rebuked, getting angry. "We could have noticed it sooner if you just let me take you to a hospital."

"And then what? The damage was already done, and you just said the only way for it to heal is with me regenerating." he shook his head. "The only thing bringing me to the hospital would have done would be to make the rest of my class worry."

"There would have been professionals to take care of you," Recovery girl almost spat, face full of frustration. "That kind of mentality is going to get you killed."

"A hero's job is to protect others, even their feelings," he countered softly. "The urge to save was the only reason I was able to force life back into me from the brink of death."

"The only reason you _survived_ is due to your _quirk_," Recovery girl scolded. "Don't come at me with that suicidal rhetoric; I've had my fill with Toshiko always babbling it."

"S-sorry," he muttered, getting up. "Can you heal the rest of my arm now? They are waiting for me at the dorms..."

He stopped. "And please keep this between us. I don't want anyone to worry."

Her face soured "I should tie you to the bed and wait till you heal properly, but knowing you, you would just break yourself more trying to get out won't you?"

She sighed.

"Fine, but I will log you as 'clinically insane.'"

"Won't that cause problems?"

"All top heroes get that diagnosis one day, don't worry."

* * *

"Ok, so," Momo whispered to the small group that had congregated to her room; Kyoka, Ochako, Mina, and Katsumi. "We didn't see anything."

They all nodded.

"If anyone asks, Ashido slept in Bakugou's room; Jirou, Uraraka and I shared mine."

They nodded again.

"Under _no _circumstances are we to even _mention _what actually happened."

They nodded a third time.

"Especially his… reaction..." Momo blushed too hard to finish the sentence, the rest of the girls blushing too, all except Mina.

_He has definitely grown since I last saw… _Katsumi thought, unable to help herself.

"Aren't you making a big deal out of this?" Mina asked, causing everyone's attention to snap to her. "It's not like its... y'know, unnatural for it to happen, right?"

"I- I suppose…" Momo almost squeaked, blushing harder.

"Plus I would have been madder if it didn't get a reaction." The pink skinned girl huffed, pouting slightly to make her point.

"Thats- Uh…" Momo couldn't finish the thought. _I'm still having trouble coming into terms with its presence, don't throw this at me, too._

_Was its size the byproduct of his qui- NO, NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT! BAD MOMO!_

The rest of the girls seemed to be having the same line of thoughts, going by their almost steaming faces.

"Don't give me that. We're all hot; it was bound to happen," Mina insisted, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Could you fucking stop, raccoon eyes?" Katsumi hissed, her voice meeker than it should have been, but with anger still present. "I don't want to think about it."

"Awe you're all flustered~" Mina cooed.

"Why aren't you?" Kyoka asked, blushing face betraying her deadpan tone.

"Oh-" Mina shrugged. "Dunno- maybe my lust is overpowering everything else?"

"Your _what?" _they all shot back.

"Did I say that out loud?"

* * *

"I touched i-" The sounds of arguing coming from the other wall broke Mei's trance, shaking her out of her loop.

_Oh… he left._

She gave a sigh; without Izuku there to anchor her in the moment, her thoughts were quickly drawn to the critical failure the gauntlet had suffered.

_He tried blocking an attack with it… and it just crumpled up like wet paper…_

_He trusted that it would have protected him but…_

A single tear fell unheeded.

_He trusted my baby. And it failed him._

**_I_ **_failed him…_

She hugged herself tightly

_And after failing him I just… forced myself onto him all day..._

_He must hate me right now…_

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, trying to ignore the lump forming in her throat.

_I should just go… build something._

_That's all that I am good for anyway._

She quickly changed back to the clothes she was wearing yesterday, and walked off to the Support workshop, face downcast.

* * *

"Shuzenji, I am here for my check up-" All Might announced walking in through the main door to the clinic in her true form, meekly looking around the main room of the infirmary. "Shuzenji?"

She walked deeper into the office, following the humming of machinery. _I keep forgetting UA got the funds to have almost a miniature hospital in here…_

_Can't really complain… _she winced, gently rubbing the area of her scarring.

All Might stopped at the entrance to the MRI lab.

"Toshi?" the old nurse questioned, looking to the source of the footsteps. "Oh right, your check-up, Give me a second till I heal up-" She closed her eyes, sighing, "Midoriya." It was evident she wanted to say something else but bit her tongue.

"Young Midoriya is here?" "All Might is there?" both patients asked simultaneously.

"Give me a second you suicidal-" she bit her tongue again. "Patients. Suicidal patients..."

* * *

After a quick kiss from Recovery Girl, Izuku marched back to his room; his left arm still bandaged but healed fully. He had quickly asked to meet All Might after her own checkup in the teachers' lounge.

No way he was going to talk about the whole 8 voices thing in his pajamas.

He didn't notice the weird look Hana gave him when he re-entered the dorms. "Hey Midoriya, why were you out in your pajamas?"

He skidded to a halt. "Oh- uh..."

He stared blankly at her for a second, trying to come up with something.

_Oh wow, the damage even affected that?_

"He probably went to get his arm fully healed, right?" Tomoyo answered for him.

The resident guy nodded immediately "Yeah, I got kinda… excited and went before I dressed up properly…?"

They both looked at him weirdly "Are you feeling alright?" Tomoyo asked tilting her head.

"MAYBE I SHOULD DRESS UP AND GET HER TO CHECK AGAIN HAHAHA!" He announced, panicking and running off.

"What _is _up with him?" Hana asked, turning to the speedster next to her.

"Maybe facing death head-on affected him a little?" Tomoyo pondered, scratching her chin.

"I guess?" Hana shrugged. "Want some freshly squeezed orange juice?"

"I'd love some, thank you."

* * *

"Uhm- Mei, I came to change," he announced as he opened his door, only to find his room empty.

_Oh- she left…_

_Well- I did kinda…_

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of all the nonsense of the morning, put on some casual clothing and walked off to the teachers' lounge.

* * *

All Might was waiting there for him. Alone and in her true form.

"What was your question, Midoriya?" She asked, voice heavier than usual like she already knew what he was going to ask.

"I-" he paused and tried to find the words.

"I heard voices, eight of them during my…close call. I was just going to ask if that was connected to One for All."

"Eight voices?" All Might mused, rubbing her chin. "It might be…" she confessed, her sunken eyes growing resolute. "...I should tell you the story of how One for All came to be: You might be able to understand what those voices were if you know the origin of the power that now resides in you…"

Izuku wasn't expecting the weight of the words, but leaned in, nodding slowly.

"All right, One for All's story is intertwined with another;"

"It's the story of a brother and a sister..."


	24. all that your heart needs the most

"THAT CHEATER!" Tsukiko screamed, tossing one of the bar stools, the furniture starting to decay where her fingers had made contact. "HE RUINED IT ALL; THE PLAN, THE NOUMU..."

She hissed and kicked the stool, causing another one of the bar tables to get knocked over, seething with anger. "HIM AND HIS STUPID FUCKING QUIRK!"

The static of the nearby TV on the counter cleared up, a silhouette clad in shadows fading into reality. "Shigaraki, calm down," came a voice from the speakers, warbled and robotic from the age of the device. "No need to cry over spilled milk…"

"S-sorry master," Tsukiko muttered, her outburst slowly coming to a close.

"Kurogiri, is she correct about the male with a quirk?"

"Yes, he seemed to have something like lightning… but I am not entirely sure," the gaseous villain answered, voice reserved and level. "I am sure that he 'walked off' getting his neck broken."

"I see…" The voice from the TV seemed almost pensive.

"One for All has changed hands yet again…"

_So… My brother's legacy…_

She smiled, her scarred skin stretching over the psychotic grin that formed, almost tearing at the seams.

_Can't wait to meet him again…_

* * *

"It was during the first time of the first quirk's emergence 200 years ago," All Might began, voice slightly somber.

_Oh God, not again..._

"I am sure you heard most of the _pleasant _stuff regarding the time. It's all society wants to remember…" All Might huffed, not noticing the zoned out look Izuku had gained. "But it couldn't be farther from the truth."

Izuku perked up immediately.

"When quirks first emerged, the meaning of 'being human' changed, laws became meaningless, progress halted." The number one hero was looking older with each sentence. "Anarchy took over."

A sad smile tugged at the corners of her gaunt lips. "It's funny; in hindsight, they didn't even notice only women got quirks for the first thirty years or so."

Izuku would have chuckled if he wasn't so invested in the story.

"During that time of chaos and uncertainty, someone took hold." A fire of utter hatred filled Toshiko's eyes as her voice grew strained. "A woman with a quirk that let her steal other quirks, and to give them to others as she saw fit." Electric-blue eyes flared.

"We call her All for One."

"She took what she wanted, and gave to whoever pledged allegiance to her. Before long she had enough people under her command for the government of Japan to mean nothing." Her shoulders were shaking now, almost as if she was trying to keep her body from shifting to muscle form.

"She ruled Japan; she was ruthless in her rule. The absolute epitome of evil."

"We- I never heard any of this; not online, not in textbooks… how?" Izuku muttered, shocked to the core.

"After her fall society did everything in its power to erase her existence from history. In an act of revenge… maybe even fear." Her shoulders stopped shaking, easing up a little.

"... Where was I?" Toshiko rubbed her forehead.

Izuku looked meeker _I shouldn't have interrupted…_

"Oh right. During her rule she did something; something I still have trouble believing…" she tensed up briefly before continuing. "You see, her power to give quirks… It sometimes overwhelmed the target, making them mindless puppets. Other times it blended with the person's original quirk and caused it to mutate."

"There is one instance of the latter happening I know of through and through."

"The tyrant had an older brother. One that she loved dearly. _Too _dearly..."

Izuku didn't know what to feel about the connotations.

"He hated his sister for what she had done and was doing. His sense of justice fueling his contempt for her… so in order to get him to like her back, or maybe to force the emotions onto him, she gave him a quirk."

Izuku felt like he was punched by the Noumu again.

"What no one could have guessed, that giving him a quirk activated something inside him."

"The power given to him was 'stockpile', it melded with a power already inside of him. Something similar to his sister; the power to 'transfer' quirks."

"One for All was born inside of a man. And now, 7 inheritors after the fact, it is back inside one."

They both just stared for a moment, the silence growing awkward.

"W-Wait- so All for One's brother had a quirk before she forced another onto him? Does that mean there might be other men with quirks?"

"No..." All Might shook her head, then shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, you have a quirk, odds are another might have one too…"

"Odds are slim, however in the 200 years, there hasn't been another case with a man with a quirk."

He devolved into thinking mode. _Wait… I thought I only had Total Command cause of genetic variation, some mutation that occurred by accident… but if the Brother had a quirk too…_

_Does that mean all men have quirks?_

"Don't come to that conclusion just yet; we can't detect the genes for it in any men. Yes, including you. All things considered, you and the First might be the only one to have a part of a 'quirk gene' you having one that managed to manifest before being 'given' one" All might admitted

Izuku cringed _mumbled again dammit… but _"Why? Why am I the only one to have this?"

"Maybe you are related to the First, maybe it is destiny, or evolution finally catching up. I don't have the answer for that one…"

She started chuckling "thinking about it, One for All and Total Command are just things that are impossible in the eyes of society right? Maybe you have a 3rd quirk that attracts things that shouldn't be happening to you"

"Do not even joke about that, I legitimately might have that."

All Might simply laughed harder.

* * *

_Wait… that explains it. _He let green lightning crackle between his fingertips as he exited the teachers lounge; All Might had a meeting to get to and thus kicked him out. _This, its not One for All synergising with Total command… Its the bases that formed One for All working with Total Command… the power to transfer quirks mutating, gaining the ability to transfer intent..._

_Or… it was never the power to just transfer quirks, It was the power to transfer will, intent...everything._

_Maybe that was what I heard… the wills of the previous holders?_

He let the lightning fade _wonder if that means they are still in me-_

His pager pinged, derailing his train of thought. He looked at the screen dumbly for a moment before registering the source. _Power Loader?_

* * *

"HATSUME, CALM DOWN!" Power Loader screamed, trying to decouple the pneumatic hammer she was using to beat the metal into shape. "YOU ARE RUSHING IT; ITS GONNA BREAK THE MACHINE. OR WORSE, YOU'LL HURT YOURSELF"

"**M͕̉̓͜Ỏ̤͌͟T̲̍ͅH̱̄E̘͠R̢̮̊,̪̣̿͝ ̨́L̙̥̐̇I̗̬̾̄S̮T̩̿Ė͙̥̎N̗͚̈́̔ ̙͙͋̇T̘̕O̜̘͑̽ T̮̞͌͒H̖̩͐̎Ę̱͐̾ ̩̰̚T͉̣̀͐Ĕ̠̥͒Ȁ̤̚͟CH̙͌E̠͂̿͢R ̛͓P͇̏L͑͛͜͟EAȘ͗Ḛ͒͐͜,͕̯̍̐**" Mecha Might added, trying to unplug the metallurgy furnace before it burnt the workshop to the ground.

Izuku slammed the door open to the support studio, panting from his marathon to the place. "I... I came as soon as I could..."

Mei stopped her catatonic crafting, looking up towards the intruder. "Midoriya?"

The distraction gave Mecha Might an opportunity to tackle her away from the machines.

"G-GEt off me!" she struggled in vain against her creation's grip.

Power Loader sighed, finally unplugging the equipment before they had a critical failure. "Hatsume, you are banned from the shop for today. Midoriya, take her back to her dorm or something. I need this cleaned up…" _Then I need a stiff drink..._

Izuku nodded grimly, kneeling next to Mei. "C'mon… you need some time off..."

"N-no I need to… finish the piece." Her voice wavered; she was slightly tearing. "I need- I need to show that I can build something for you… That's why we are friends, right?"

Izuku looked dumbfounded "No- why woul-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Power loader screeched, and Mecha Might tossed Mei out, pushing Izuku out along with her.

"**P̠̐l͍͌e̛͎ả͟ś͇ě̳ ͈̐t̡͠ake̟̋ c̥̊ar̚͟e ̜͒ỏ̗f̯̆ herͅ…̞̑** **" **the goliath whispered before the door closed behind them.

* * *

"I-" Mei sat down on the floor of the hallway, gazing blankly at the closed door of the support workshop.

"I guess I am not good for anything…"

Izuku's face fell at the sheer depression she had in her voice "Mei… what are you talking about?"

"What do you mean?" her eyes were full of tears now. "I failed you, my baby turned against me. And now I am banned from even building stuff cause I am so bad at it…"

"Mei you didn't fail me. Mecha Might only did that cause he is worried for you, and you were banned 'cause you need a day off." He crouched next to her, gripping her shoulders gently. "Why would you even think that you failed me?"

"T-the gauntlet… It broke when you tried defending yourself with it…"

He didn't respond, just pulled her into a hug, forcing her ear against his chest again.

"You hear that?"

She was blushing, tears slowing down, the steady beat of his heart filling her with warmth. "Y-your heart?" _Why is it making mine beat faster?_

"Do you know why it's still going?"

She pushed her head off his chest, looking into his eyes. "W-why?"

"Because someone I care for gave me this amazing support gear. It soaked up most of the impact, letting me get away with only a dislocated neck, instead of decapitation…"

"Mei." His voice was barely more than a whisper. "I am alive because of your gauntlet."

Her heart clenched.

"I- I'm…" Proud? Happy? Relieved? She didn't know how to describe what she was feeling. Words couldn't do it justice.

So she acted. Letting her body take the reigns.

Izuku didn't get a chance to react as Mei pushed forward and pressed her lips to his.

His body sparked with One for All in his panic, green lightning crossing the gap between them.

She felt his admiration, appreciation and feelings for her. It was transferred to her with the arc between them, in ways words simply couldn't convey.

The mix of sensations made her feel light-headed.

She pulled away from the kiss, eyes still closed, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

"Izuku, I love you" She murmured; finally knowing what words to use to describe what she was feeling.

"I…" He didn't know what to say. He never thought someone would actually love him. Familial, sure, friendship, yes. But not this type of love.

He was overthinking, his tongue felt like lead in his mouth.

But the question was simple.

_Did- do I feel that way towards her?_

His fingers ran through her pink hair as he pushed her back slightly. The confusion on her face lasted only a moment as his lips met hers again, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his lap.

_Of course I do- how could I not?_

Mei could feel his heart beating against her chest, increasing in pace as he pulled her deeper into the passionate kiss.

She could also feel hers matching his beat for beat.

After what felt like an eternity, he pulled back. The look of happiness in her eyes made his chest feel like it would burst. "I- I love you too, Mei."

Her heart soared.

* * *

"The villains coughed up most of everything they knew," Detective Nao announced in the teachers' meeting, holding up the testimonies of all the 60 villains they captured, along with the testimonies from the students.

"From what they said, they had been approached by this 'Shigaraki,' the villain covered in hands. The students state that she was apparently the leader of the operation, with the quirk of 'decay,' according to Bakugou Katsumi from class 1-A."

Nozomi scratched under her muzzle, remembering the state of the barrier.

"She'd summoned them with the promise of killing All Might," continued the Detective, flipping through the pages. "Their main method of transport was the 'Warp Gate' quirk user, Kurogiri. There is no record of either in the quirk registry, so they are presumed to be from the underworld of society."

"So what you are saying… is that we know next to nothing," Snipe huffed under her mask.

"What I am saying is, even this… League of villains didn't know much about themselves."

"Weird." Midnight leaned on her palms. "Usually even villains don't blindly follow one another..."

"They didn't, they probably followed Shigaraki due to her control over the Noumu, the beast that crippled both Eraser-Head and Thirteen, and almost killed Midoriya Izuku" The detective turned to Recovery Girl whose eyebrow was twitching remembering what he had requested of her "The police did their own autopsy of it, and we found that it had multiple quirks, too."

"Oh…" All Might cut in; her voice grim, rubbing the scar on her torso through her clothing. "We all know what that means."

A cold realization spread through the room.

"_ She _is back..."

* * *

Izuku never imagined this happening… neither getting confessed to nor the moment followed.

Mei was at his side as they left the main building, clinging to his arm yet unable to look at his face.

And to be fair, he couldn't quite look at her either; the sparkle in her eyes made it hard for him to keep his heart steady.

_Plus with my subconscious is gone, God knows what would happen if I looked at her for too long. I might literally get a heart attack…_

_Again._

Mei on the other hand… was having the same dilemma.

_… Now what do we do?_

_Kiss more? That felt nice…_

She was fidgeting slightly as they made it back to the 1-A dorms.

Mei froze mid stride, with her grip on his arm he noticed it too, stopping too

"Izuku I-"

She bit her thumb, looking away from him "Where do we go from here?"

He looked lost as well, his response to her confession, although honest and heartfelt, was said in the heat of the moment. He hadn't even thought about how the future would pan out after that… not how it would have affect his interactions with the rest of the class. Nor how he should act towards her now…

"We…"

He huffed, scratching his own scalp "I don't...I don't know where to go from here…"

Then he remembered.

"Yaoyorozu...she might know…" He knew her father was married to her mother.

She must know what they should act like...

Right?

* * *

"Do you know where Midoriya is? He has not been around since the morning… I am getting worried" Tomoyo admitted to Momo, both were in the common room watching a documentary about rescue heroes.

"O-oh…" She blushed remembering the morning's debacle. "He... He should be fine, probably still with Recovery Girl."

"But he came back from that this morni-"

They both stopped and turned as the door to the dorm opened, Mei and Izuku walking in, walking side by side.

"Oh, guess he was with you… Hatsume was it?" Tomoyo bowed in introduction. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Iida Tomoyo."

"Oh, hello Iida" Mei muttered softly, eyes locking onto Momo's, "can we borrow Yaoyorozu for a second?"

"I- It's kinda important" Izuku added, rubbing the back of his neck.

Both Tomoyo and Momo looked at each other.

"I don't mind."

* * *

"Y- you confessed to each other?" Momo asked, shocked out of her mind. She tried to ignore the lump forming in her throat as she said those words.

_Of course she did… Izuku is amazing…_

"Yeah… and we don't know what to do from here…" Mei said, twiddling her thumbs nervously. "Izuku said you would know…"

_I… that's just…_

Her shoulders slumped. "I… honestly don't know that much, My parents aren't really around, you see..."

"Oh…" Izuku suddenly felt much more awkward about the exchange, "S-sorry, I didn't know…"

"You love her… right?" Momo asked, hoping against all hope that her own feelings wouldn't be for nothing.

_It's a useless endeavor… of course, he loves her, he wouldn't just lie about something like that..._

"I do…" He answered, starting to feel something off about Momo's voice.

"Wait… "

Both Hero-class students looked at Mei, whose amber eyes were focusing on Momo's onyx ones.

She knew that emotion.

She just felt that emotion.

"You love him too, don't you?"

Izuku's brain just stopped processing for a second.

Then resumed in denial mode "Wh-wha of course not- why would someone like Yaoyorozu love me?"

"HEY YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON. WHY WOULDN'T SHE LOVE YOU?" Mei countered, a little louder than intended.

Neither noticed Momo starting to blush madly.

"What if I do?" She meekly said, feeling some weight shift from her shoulders from her partial confession.

_Now… I can move on._

"Oh cool we can both figure out what to do together then," Mei said, her trademark smile shining through as she grabbed the other girl's hands.

"Eh?" Momo eyes widened. _She can't seriously mean..._

Izuku looked like he had run out of CPU.

"We both love him right? We can both learn how this relationship thing works from each other!" Mei exclaimed, happy to have another girl to help her through this.

_Plus she looks like she is smart enough to figure it out!_

"A- are you offering to share Izuku with me? Y-your boyfriend...?" Momo said slowly, still trying to process what _the actual fuck _was going on.

"Our Boyfriend," Mei said, _loving _the ring to it.

"B-but that's not…" Momo muttered trying to make sense of it.

_None of the novels I read went like this!_

"Not what?" Mei asked tilting her head like a confused puppy, looking far more adorable than she had any right to be after that bombshell.

"Relationships are supposed to between two people, not three!" Momo exclaimed trying to get some sense into the situation at hand, ignoring the multiple harems the world had nowadays, still going with what those old romance books as gospel.

"But… won't that make you sad?" Mei asked, already knowing the answer.

"It... it would…" Momo admitted her voice getting softer by the end, her onyx eyes swimming with emotion.

"I couldn't be happy if someone was sad because of it," Mei announced with a huff "I am willing to share him."

"But- but won't it be weird… sharing him with other people?"

"Did you sleep uncomfortably in his bed last night?"

Momo's mouth snapped closed. _No that was the best sleep I had…_

"We- I... " Momo's denial was fading. Only one last problem remained; it was all her brain could give before simply giving into Mei's logic.

"Shouldn't Izuku decide if he wants to be shared?" _Does he even love me?_

"You heard her, what do you think Zuku?" Mei asked, gently nudging him.

Izuku fell forward, onto Momo.

Unconscious.


	25. Whats meant to be will always find a way

"Toga! TOGAAAAATAAAA!" Nejire pounded the much taller Hero-course student's muscular shoulder trying to get her attention. "Have you heard? Have ya?"

"Heard what?" Tamai, the gloomy and lanky member of the top three huffed. The motion causing her dark hair covering her left eye to shift.

"There is a male in class 1A! Isn't that exciting?" Nejire announced smiling broadly. Her curvy body almost vibrating with excitement "I heard he was strong enough to break the robots in the exam with a punch!"

Tamai flinched. "Whoa… he sounds strong…"

"He has _Power _, eh?" Mira, the muscular and tall one of the three said aloofly. She looked like a miniature All Might. The only thing that gave her away was her rather… simplistic face.

"Yeah! Yeah! I heard he was a government experiment that escaped!"

"Hado that sounds a little far-fetched…" Tamai mumbled looking away. _She is gonna be at this for a while…_

"And remember that vigilante from a while back? The guy?"

"Knuckleduster?" Mira hummed, remembering something Madam had mumbled about the mountain of a man.

"Yeah! They say he is his father!" Nejire beamed, "And All Might his mom!"

"W-wha-? How? All Might hasn't been off duty… ever?" Tamai mumbled only to get ignored by the other two.

"What's his name though?"

Nejire poked her chin trying to remember the name of the current center of gossip. "I think it's something with a Mi...was it Mi-"

* * *

"-DORIYA?!" Momo managed to exclaim just before all 150 kilos of muscle and tempered bone that was Izuku collapsed onto her.

Mei watched as her man collapsed onto Momo.

_Wait…_

She looked at them both, laying on the ground, Izuku on top of Momo.

_Is this what sex is?_

"M-Mei help me-" Momo grunted, blushing feverishly trying to push the unconscious male off. _...God I can feel each muscle fiber when I push against him…_

_Wait…_

"Oh God- OH GOD IS HE ALIVE?" Momo was truly panicking now, and if she didn't calm down she would soon join Izuku in unconsciousness.

Then again, she wasn't overburdening her cerebrum with the tasks of all other parts of the brain.

"Huh- OH!" Mei shook her head, coming out of her trance and pulling her unconscious boyfriend off of the raven-haired hero.

With what looked like little effort.

_Wait… what?_

Momo looked at Mei dumbfounded; she had managed to pull Izuku into a sitting position, head lolled down seemingly asleep.

Then she noticed her arms.

Arms that looked lanky and wiry at first glance, but as they were gripping onto the back of Izuku's shirt, they bulged.

Arms of someone that gained upper body strength over the years pounding steel into shape.

_Oh right… Support course._

"You alright?" the pinkette asked, crouching down, still holding onto their… _wait yeah- he never answered._

_Wait…_

_RIGHT-_

Momo scrambled up, grabbing his wrist, trying to find a pulse. She sighed with relief when she finally felt it.

Strong and steady.

"Oh thank goodness…"

Mei laughed silently. "Don't worry, he isn't…you know... He promised he wouldn't..."

Momo let her shoulders slump, relieved and a little embarrassment. "I- ...I'm just worried, especially after yesterday…"

"...I am, too," Mei looked away, scratching her cheek. _ But his chest was moving, so-_

Izuku grunted, slowly coming to.

"I-Izuku, are you alright?" Momo asked, getting a little too close by accident.

He reacted before the rest of his brain knew what was going on and scrambled back a little.

Onto Mei.

_Boobs._

He was blushing feverishly now. Mei gently hugged him from behind reflexively, pushing him against the soft point of contact.

_Fuck that._

He shut off his tactile sensations, letting himself calm down.

"W-what were we doing?" He coughed trying to remember what was going on before his black out.

"You were having sex with Momo" Mei mumbled. She was stroking his hair but he wasn't feeling it.

His neck almost snapped again when he turned back to look at the pinkette. "What!?"

Momo was _steaming. _"Wh-wha-wha?"

Then, it came back to him.

Momo's admittance.

She loved him.

He would have honestly passed out again if shutting off the somatosensory sections of his brain hadn't taken some of the burden off of his cerebrum.

He slowly looked back at Momo, who quickly averted her gaze, still flustered by Mei's comment.

_No- no way. She can't be in love with me…_

_She is just too… too..._

_Intelligent? Beautiful? Amazing? Perfect?_

_…_

_She is too Yaoyorozu to fall for someone like me…_

"I-..." Momo was blushing even harder now, and her eyes were darting all over the place.

_God. Fucking. Dammit. Stop muttering._

Mei huffed, nuzzling his shoulder blade absently. "You didn't reject mine… why are you rejecting her feelings?"

"N-No I di-didn't-" Izuku stammered, trying to find the proper words. "I- I just can't see why either one of you fell for me…"

Momo's blush started to fade.

Mei was looking sad and annoyed. "Zuku…"

"...Maybe I was looking for something like this… but..." Momo looked at her hands, opening and closing them slowly. "You- you are…" she clenched her fists. "You understand how I feel, and try to help me out without pity or bias… You've helped me better myself, in both quirk and state of mind…" She let her hands unclench relaxing as the thoughts finally flowed freely. "Even knowing how I feel about myself… you looked at me like I was this... beautiful, intelligent, unstoppable hero already."

Her breathing shook ever so slightly. "H-how could I not fall for someone like that?"

Mei and Izuku looked at Momo, who was still looking at her hands. Mei with understanding and sympathy, Izuku slack-jawed and flabbergasted.

"I- but…That's what you are..."

"Zuku…" Mei hissed, pushing him off her lap, towards Momo. "Take responsibility."

Momo looked up at him, smiling and eyes slightly teary "This... This is what I am talking about... y-you said it so easily, so earnestly... I…" she palmed her eyes rubbing the tears away. "S-sorry..."

Izuku re-engaged his tactile sensations as he scooted over to Momo, gently enfolding her hands in his. "N-no need to apologize."

Momo gave out a soft, happy whimper. "Izuku… "

She leaned forward. "I love you."

Their lips made contact.

* * *

Inko shivered again, the second time that day, but didn't pay any mind to it.

_I want to hear his voice..._

She was busy watching the news.

About the attack on USJ.

_I NEED TO HEAR HIS VOICE!_

* * *

Momo knew this was selfish. She only hoped Izuku could forgive her as she pushed in for the kiss, feeling a spark when her lips met his.

She decided that this would be worth it even if he didn't.

Izuku didn't react for the first couple of seconds, then slowly moved his hand behind her head, pulling her deeper into the kiss.

Momo felt rapture as she pressed into him, causing them to fall back onto the grass. The movement made Izuku's hand tug at her hair tie, freeing the black locks of her signature ponytail.

She pulled away, now straddling his lap, hair spilling around her face. A light blush had formed on her cheeks as though she was intoxicated. _I… want more…_

Izuku was again gazing up at her like she was a goddess, his fingers combing through her hair. All of this, combined with the turmoil of her mind, was goading her to go _further, _to rush things.

"Izuku, Mei… want to come to my ro-"

Her sentence died in her mouth when something started to ring.

Izuku's eyes widened. "That's... Mom's ringtone."

That sobered up the young Yaoyorozu instantly, causing her blush to shift from intoxicated to embarrassed, quickly scrambling off of Izuku. "S-Sorry Midoriya!"

"You can call him Izuku…" Mei said, looking curiously to the two of them. _So that's what sex is…_

_Maybe?_

Izuku blinked for a couple of seconds, trying to come into terms with the fact that he had just been kissed on the lips for the third time that day and in his life.

_I think I might never get used to that…_

His phone ringed again. _OH SHIT RIGHT!_

He answered the call. "Morning, Mom."

" IZUKU !" the device screamed, causing him to wince and pull the phone away.

He placed his ear on it again when he heard the other side grow quiet, both girls watching the interaction curiously.

" Izuku! Izuku, is it you? " The other side was quieter.

"Yes, mom. Sorry for not calling sooner, it's been… hectic lately."

" Hectic? You were _attacked! _Are you alright? "

He looked at the two girls. Momo was asking something to Mei about meeting his mom, to which the pinkette responded with a curt shake of her head.

"Yeah, don't worry mom. I am in good hands," he laughed awkwardly, rubbing his neck absently. "And hey, we defeated even more villains this time."

The other side sighed in relief. " All those months ago, I did say I wouldn't get used to this easily, didn't I? "

Mei, unable to be stopped by Momo grabbed onto the phone, pulling it out of Izuku's hands "Don't worry, miss Midoriya; He isn't going anywhere! He promised!"

" Oh- I'm glad to hear that but… who is this? "

"Hatsume Mei! Izuku's-" Izuku clamped a hand over Mei's mouth, stopping her from finishing that sentence.

" Oh! Hatsume! Izuku's best friend? He kept talking about you. Glad to hear you made it into UA, too. " There was a brief silence. " Could you take care of my son, please? "

Mei looked at Izuku and, after a moment of thinking, he let go of her mouth.

"Sure thing, I'll make sure he is safe."

" Thanks Hatsume- could you put Izuku back on? "

Mei complied, giving the phone back to its owner.

" Honestly, If you don't marry both her and that Uraraka girl, I will ground you young man. "

Izuku's face became a shade of red never before seen by mankind. "M-Mom, I'm 18..."

" And that is the legal age to marry, now propose to them already. "

"Mom!" His mind started placing wedding dresses on Mei, Ochako, Momo, Katsumi…

_Oh, you have enough processing power for that? You useless sack of- _

" They love you already, Izuku. Go and pop the question. "

He sighed, trying to shift the focus of his mind. "How are you so sure?"

" A mother always knows, " Inko giggled from the other end. " Now go get them; I want some cute grandchildren. "

"Have a nice day, mom..."

"Call me sometimes. I miss talking to my baby boy"

"I'll try to."

With that, he hung up the phone.

Mei was beaming at him. Momo had a soft smile gracing her features.

"I like your mother!" Mei announced, grabbing onto his arm and resting her head against his shoulder.

"Seems like she likes you, too," he huffed, gently petting her head with his other hand.

"What was that last part about?" she asked, neither she nor Momo had heard his mother's side as she had almost whispered the last parts.

"Uh- nothing major, she was just telling me to-" _Man, lying is harder than I remember it being..._

"To not do anything reckless again," he breathed, "or she would ground me."

_... it's still easier than the time I had to do it in the morning._

Mei accepted the answer and nuzzled into him a little more. "Wanna go see if the documentary is still on?"

Izuku nodded as the two of them moved forward back to the dorms. He stopped about halfway, realizing that Momo wasn't following them.

"Oh yeah…" giving a look to Mei who let go of his arm, he walked over to the raven-haired girl, who was still rooted at her spot, looking slightly like she had done something villainous and was not regretting it.

"I'm sorry… I forced myself onto you," she mumbled, her tone not matching her words.

"Momo..."

She looked up to him, still having that same giddy smile. "Sorry, I just... can't stop smiling right now."

He smiled back, extending a hand.

"You apologize too much."

Mei chortled in the background. "Hypocrite."

Momo's face twitched for a second."That stings, Izuku." Taking his offer and allowing him to help her to her feet

"Let me make it feel better..."

He leaned down and kissed her briefly on the lips again.

She sighed happily after he pulled back. "...That does make me feel better."

He intertwined his fingers with hers, pulling her forward. "Good enough to join us in watching that documentary?"

"I'd love to."

"Oh and Momo?"

"Yes?"

"I love you too."

She stopped for a second, finally feeling what all those books were talking about when the character's 'heart skipped a beat.'

She leaned onto his shoulder, sighing contently. "Thank you."

Mei glomped onto his other one, smiling happily.

He hummed in response "For what?"

"Being you..."

* * *

To their chagrin, the documentary was rolling the credits when they got back and rejoined Tomoyo.

Who didn't question why Mei was lingering closer to Izuku, nor did she ask about why they needed to talk to Momo so urgently.

Or why the vice president of the class had her hair out of her ponytail.

She did, however; look relieved after seeing Izuku behave normally, idly petting Mei's head as she took a nap on his lap.

"You look better than this morning, Midoriya," she commented, looking at the two.

He smiled in response. "Got my fill of gummies; those things help a lot."_ I'm getting back to the swing of things._

That got Momo thinking. "I wonder If I can create those with my quirk…"

Mei's eyes snapped open, scaring Izuku. "Momo, what is your quirk?" she asked instantly.

_Wait..._

_Momo's quirk…_

_Oh no-_

Before he could protest Momo answered her question.

"Oh my quirk is Creation; I can use lipids to create anything I know the molecular composition of."

Izuku suddenly felt the fear of God. It was an unwelcome feeling.

"Any limits?" Mei asked, slowly getting out of his lap.

Momo was now getting slightly worried. "N-nothing living, other than that… nothing I've found out so far."

Mei's eyes were sparkling. "Did you hear that Izuku? So many possibilities for new babies!"

Tomoyo choked on air. "SPEAKING OF OFFSPRING IS-"

"Hey, if anyone is mating with him, it's me. I called dibs."

Everyone looked at the new person to join in on the group; Tsuyu.

"Wait, did she?" Tomoyo asked to Izuku, who just looked back blankly.

Mei didn't even register either interruption, crawling over Izuku towards Momo, who was seated on his other side. "Can you create diamonds? I have this idea for Izuku's new costume"

"Oh?" Izuku's eyes snapped at the two. "Could you get rid of the skin-tight wetsuit?"

Momo, Mei and Tsuyu looked at him. "No."

"Figured as much..." He sighed.

* * *

Before Mei could drag Momo to the support workshop, Izuku grabbed onto the scruff of her neck, halting her progress.

"Remember, you are still banned until tomorrow."

She pouted at that, but finally gave in, sitting back down with a "Fine..."

He looked at Momo in a 'take care of her' look, which the obsidian haired woman responded with a nod.

"Tsuyu, can you help me with making lunch?"

She nodded with a ribbit, joining him in the kitchen.

"Sorry about that…" she mumbled, shaking her head slightly as they settled down in the space, Izuku starting to wash his hands.

"It's fine, I am used to it by now," he muttered flicking his hands towards the sink twice, then grabbing the towel. "Plus, it's just your quirk right? Mating season and all."

Tsuyu nodded and started washing her own hands. "Wait, you weren't there when I told the class about it…"

"I mean.. Your quirk _is _being a frog..."

She looked at him blankly then started ribbiting, lightly.

It sounded like laughter to his ears.

"I guess it's not hard to figure out, at least for you," she breathed, smiling faintly. "But it should pass soon."

"How soon is that?" he asked as he was looking through the fridge. _Maybe some mac and cheese? They would like some good old American food, won't they?_

"By the end of May," she admitted, drying her hands, "but it has its highs and lows, and being around you is _not _helping."

"Oh- sorry," he said hanging his head slightly as he got back up from his crouched position.

"It's not your fault, it's my quirk's fault. I honestly should have been more prepared for it, but it's not this bad usually," she shrugged. "I'm guessing it's cause I'm near you, a source of testosterone. Either that or its cause I am edging out of puberty."

He scratched his cheek._ Yeah, that'd do it…_

"Enough about that… what's on the menu?"

"I'm blanking on that, honestly..."

"Frog legs?" she muttered without thinking about it.

"Tsuyu, no," he huffed, hiding a chuckle.

She didn't even blink at the rejection. "Oh- right, sorry."

"Soba?"

Both chefs turned to Shoko, who had just stepped into the kitchen.

"SHOKO, NO!" Momo yelled from the common room.

Shoko didn't budge.

"You heard the mom-friend" Tsuyu croaked, making Izuku look at her like she just grew a second head.

Shoko still did not move.

"We are out of noodles anyway," Izuku said, looking towards the pantry.

Shoko hung her head, walking into the common room.

"Are we really?" Tsuyu whispered looking over his shoulder.

"Nah."

Tsuyu started ribbiting rapidly again in apparent laughter.

* * *

"Beef fried rice?" Mina asked, looking at the contents of the large wok Izuku was stirring.

"Yeah" He hummed, tossing the ingredients in the air.

"Where did you even learn to cook-" the pinkette asked, a whiff of the delicious aroma of the food halting her question "God, it smells so good~"

He smiled at the compliment. "Lunch-rush. Could you help the others set the table? It'll be done soon."

Mina nodded and rushed off.

"You know you would make the perfect husband, right?" Tsuyu said absentmindedly. She was making a smaller portion of tofu fried rice for Koda.

He started blushing: unlike the rather lewder comments he was used to from her, this was more… romantic? "I- I guess?"

She ribbited absentmindedly, then stopped with a croak. "Oh! I remember" she turned to him, "I was wondering if my siblings could come to the dorms next weekend."

Izuku looked at her shocked for a second _… Oh right, class president…_

"I'll talk to Aizawa about it, should be fine."

"Thanks, Midoriya."


	26. Death's gruesome face taunts

1-A was in the USJ after it was reopened, Izuku and Momo guiding the rest of the class as they walked towards the city-replica for training.

The goal was to hide in the wreckage of the city, while a group of five heroes tried to find the rest.

So she hid in an abandoned classroom. The only source of light in the room was a bare lamp; it was the perfect spot to hide in.

But then the light went out without warning. The world was plunged in darkness.

She shivered, but stood still, if anything this made it a better place to hide.

Then she felt it. Something… wrong inside the darkness.

Something vile.

As if reacting to her awareness of it the darkness pulsed around her in retaliation as she watched in horror, tendrils of pure inky black fading in and out of existence in her vision, hidden by the shadows.

She struggled to move, to get away from the source of it all. But her body did not comply.

She was rooted on the spot as the tendrils stitched together, coalescing into a gargantuan beast. It was too large for her to comprehend. Inhuman yet bipedal.

It moved towards her, its leg bending in a way it shouldn't, it's weight making the ground creak.

She could see the detail now, its black body highlighted by red tendons across its frame, looking necrotic and rotten.

Finally, her body accepted her command, and she started to run. The beast roaring as it followed her.

But the roar never got further away, remaining right at her ear, easily keeping pace with her.

It was toying with her, it's guttural breaths going from one ear to the other, making her body reflexively run the other direction.

In her panic, she didn't even realize that she was being herded somewhere.

She arrived at a doorway, neon green lightning blinding her as she stumbled into what looked like an alcove.

"Jirou, get back I can-"

Izuku didn't get to finish his sentence as another beast manifested behind him, grabbing him by the arm and snapping it like a dry twig.

Kyoka heard him scream in pain, the sound paralyzing her.

His emerald eyes looked scared as the beasts started to chuckle and cackle, another spawning from the inky black and grabbing onto his other arm and ripping it free of its socket with ease.

She stared at the blood spurting from the stump as Izuku howled in pain hoarsely like a dying animal, falling to his knees.

"N...no," she whimpered as another grabbed onto his head.

He managed to gasp out a weak "Run-" before the lightning cut off entirely.

Followed up by the crunch of bone and a sickening pop.

The inhuman cackling grew in volume, and with her superhuman hearing, she could hear the maddening cacophony of beastly and corrupted laughter spread around her.

Her eyes adjusted to the dark and she saw his corpse on the floor.

Her feet moved on their own, even as she wanted just get away.

Run away like how he had begged her to do.

But, she couldn't. Her feet had guided her over him, her eyes seeing the result of that crackle and pop.

His head was crushed, stomped on, the only thing making it recognizable was his bushy iridescent green hair, stained in red.

"N… no…"

She fell to her knees, the pungent smell of blood making her stomach churn inside of her.

"Y̪̅O̻͑U͉̾ ̯Ś̲H̜͋O͓̐U̩͗Ĺ͟D ͓͘H͍̑A̺̽V̝̇E ̉͜R̎ͅAN̅͜!͇̚" multiple voices bellowed around her in sync.

It was the abominations, even in the darkness she could make out the _multiple _eyes staring down at her behind the carcass. Each pupil glowing in the darkness, shivering with rage too primal and corrupted to be fathomable.

Before she could pull back, away from the approaching eyes Izuku's broken and mangled arm moved and grabbed onto her.

She shivered and tried to step away, but the ruined limb was deceptively strong. Anchoring her on the spot.

The eyes around her grew closer as she tried to get out of its grip, to turn away from the eyes, and the thing he had become.

Unable to move, she looked away, back to the place she had come from. Now with her eyes adjusted, she could see the walls.

Black and bulbous, covered in more eyes.

It wasn't _walls_ that had surrounded her, it was Noumu, dozens of them, shoulder to shoulder creating a wall of necrotic tissue.

And now they were growing closer to her.

She was afraid of the Noumu but was more scared of the still moving carcass of Izuku. His grip on her shoulder keeping her in place tightened, starting to draw blood.

It wasn't _him _that was moving again, something else had blossomed in his body, and was using it like a puppet.

She kept her gaze away from his reanimated body as long as she could as the Noumu approached her, their rotten breath tickling her face.

She shut her eyes. They were tearing from the sickly sweet smell of rotting flesh.

She only hoped they would make it quick.

They didn't.

A large hand gripped her head, twisting it, forcing her to look down.

Another forced her eyelids open.

She was staring down at the corpse of Izuku again.

It twitched.

The mangled piece of flesh that used to be his head rose back up like a sick marionette.

"J i r ou…"

* * *

"NO!" Kyoka screamed, jolting awake.

The memories of what she had seen making her heave slightly as her stomach decided it would be a good idea to eject everything now.

After a few seconds of almost hurling, she managed to override the impulse, her stomach calming down.

She rubbed her eyes, feeling the tears on her cheeks, shivering from more than just the sweat coating her form.

"Get a hold of yourself. He's alive…" she panted, trying to bury the nightmare, only for it to spread back to the front of her mind like an infection.

She hugged herself tightly, trying to overcome the fear buzzing throughout her brain.

_... What time is it?_

She checked the clock, _1 pm._

_Must have taken a nap..._

She discarded her sweaty sleep-wear, putting on some ripped jeans and a cotton T-shirt, sitting back down on her bed.

_I should go downstairs and eat something..._

She shivered remembering what she had seen in her nightmare.

_… I don't think I can handle food right now._

A knock came from the door, making her jump.

"Jirou, are you in there? Lunch is ready."

It was Izuku.

His voice reminded her of the nightmare, but…

She quickly opened the door staring at the man. He looked down at her curiously. "Jirou?"

She clung onto him instantly, sobbing lightly. "C-can you call m-me Kyoka?"

He was shell-shocked, to say the least, but hugged her back after a brief moment. "S-sure… you alright?"

"Just a nightmare…" she mumbled into his shirt, pushing her head against his chest and nuzzling onto him, finding comfort in the living warmth of his body. Her breathing was still shaky, but at least her heart rate was evening out

"Kyoka… do you want to talk about it?" he asked, honestly not knowing how to respond to the situation.

"Just...shut up and hug me, Green," the punk girl whispered, poking his nose with one of her jacks.

"Aight." Not knowing what else to do, Izuku settled on simply rubbing her back in soothing circles in what he hoped was a comforting gesture.

"Saw that t-thing again…" She admitted, leaning into him more, gripping his shirt. "It..."

The pieces clicked for him. The way she hugged tightly, just like Mei had…

She had seen him die.

And if her shaky voice was any indication, it wasn't a clean death.

"...It's fine Kyoka, it didn't happen… I am still here," He breathed, leaning down a little, resting his chin on her head.

"...Y-you came back after that and…" Her voice cracked; she was trembling again. "B-but it wasn't _you _…"

He hugged her a little tighter, combing his fingers through her hair.

"And o-oh God… your face when you-" she whimpered, sobs wracking her thin frame.

After a few seconds of letting her cry against him, he spoke up. "Hey... look up for me," he mumbled into her head, causing her to shift slowly and look back up.

She stared up to his face, taking in the small freckles he had on his cheeks, the enticing green of his eyes.

The image from her dream was overridden in just a second, her brain burning his face onto her memory in its place.

"I'll come back every time, and it'll _always _be me," he announced in a voice that was too resolute to argue against.

His resolute voice and her hastening heartbeat reminded her of what had happened before their counterattack in USJ.

"C-could you do the lightning thing again?" She asked, not even having time to register what she was saying.

Izuku blinked for a few seconds, trying to understand what she had asked for him to do.

Kyoka started blushing harshly, slightly wishing she could turn into Tooru for a bit. _Really? I just asked him to use his quirk over something so stupid?_

"S-sure," he nodded, starting to channel One For All. Kyoka was startled by his acceptance.

_Wait._

_Seriously?_

She didn't get to question it more as green lightning arced between them, the familiar sensation of buzzing spreading throughout her skin where the lightning made contact.

But the sensory stimuli that followed was different.

She had a hard time holding back a moan as heat spread from the point of contact, easing her muscles and nerves. Sweet nothings echoing in her head as the sensation enveloped her fully.

She sighed contently, letting herself fully relax against him. _I thought it would just put words in my head again…_

_Guess it changes with what he wants._

She then noticed Izuku looking at her more intensely than before, pulling her out of her high.

"I-is something wrong?" She asked, nightmare now forgotten.

"Oh- sorry…" he mumbled, blinking and looking away as One For All continued crackling between them.

She heard the ever-so-faint whisper inside her head; '_ she looks cute when she blushes' _and ' _hope she feels better… it hurts to see her so scared'_

She blinked for a couple of seconds trying to comprehend where those thoughts came from.

Then a few more to understand the connotations.

Her face burst with red, pulling away from the hug.

"_I'M _CUTE?!" She accused, taking a step back from him.

He grabbed onto his mouth, the lightning stopping instantly. "Did- did I mutter that?" he asked, sounding slightly betrayed.

"NO- I…" she stopped for a second. "I heard it in my head...?" _Which means…_

_He thought about it._

Her blush became darker, her jacks moving around erratically.

"I-I'll be in my room" She announced, slamming the door on his face.

"S-should I bring food?" he asked from the other side.

She thought about it for a second. She still wasn't that hungry but…

"M-maybe some leftovers? What do we have?" with the door between them she had an easier time conversing with him.

"I just made some beef fried rice..."

"S-sure, can you bring some in like… an hour? I should be hungry by then."

She heard some awkward laughter from the other side of the door.

"Sure thing, Kyoka."

She hated how much hearing him say her name was making her blush.

* * *

Weirdly enough, Katsumi was the one to notice him coming back, missing a certain punk.

"Jacks not joining us?" she asked, leaning back on her chair, placing her bowl of fried rice down.

"She said she wasn't feeling so well, so no... You want some hot sauce on yours?" Izuku asked, taking the empty seat next to Mei, who was chowing down with abandon, much to Tomoyo's displeasure.

"Grabbed my own batch, wanna try some?" Katsumi offered with a challenging smirk.

He thought about it for a second. _...I can just force my brain to ignore the spice right?_

"Sure."

Katsumi's smirk widened.

"Is this a challenge to prove manliness?" Eiko joined in getting closer to the two

* * *

Somehow the whole class ended up roped into a 'spice off' as Doi called it.

"So we are going to add more sauce to it every time you guys take a bite, and the last one able to eat wins," Hana laid the rules, eyes shifting between the contestants.

Katsumi looked at Izuku with rivalry in her eyes. "You are going down Deku." Then her eyes shifted to Eiko. "You, too, shitty hair."

Izuku looked at Eiko, holding back a grin. "I think she likes your hair, Kirishima."

"You think so?"

Katsumi's hands were crackling. But she didn't deny the allegation.

"Anyone gonna bet?" Mina mumbled, looking at the three.

"Why? Izuku's gonna win" Mei muttered balancing a chopstick on top of another, bored already.

"Whatcha say pinky!?" Katsumi snarled.

Mei and Mina looked at each other.

"Which one?" they asked in sync.

The rest of the class started laughing. Katsumi blushed. "L-let's just get this started."

* * *

Eiko needed to tap out during the 6th turn chugging nearly a liter of water after the fact. Panting slightly "What is_ in _that thing?" she chugged more water. "Hardening my tongue didn't even help"

Katsumi simply smirked. "Family secret." She was flushed and panting slightly, sweat dripping down her brow. "Ready to give in, Deku?"

Izuku had learned that in his current state he couldn't both turn off his perception of pain and keep track of metabolism. He was currently looking like a ripe tomato as his metabolism had been sped up by the spice of the hot sauce entering his system, making him sweat profusely. "Not yet. You?"

"Fuck no."

* * *

"I don't think they'll survive if they go any longer," Tsuyu croaked, Ochako was still watching in awe. At this point, there was more hot sauce than fried rice in the bowls.

Katsumi was looking like she had run a marathon "R-ready to…" she couldn't finish the sentence, panting to a stop.

Izuku wasn't faring any better, wiping his forehead and combing a hand to remove the hair sticking to his head from all the sweat. "N-no..."

Momo and Tomoyo looked at each other.

"Time to end this."

"No- I need to beat-" Katsumi couldn't finish the sentence as the spice overtook her, causing her to clamp her mouth shut and whine.

Izuku tried his best to stand steady but he too succumbed to it.

"Huh, guess its a tie?" Doi mumbled, looking at her two suffering classmates. "You two ok?"

Katsumi's eyes snapped open and she glared back at the resident electric generator. Doi shivered from the pure anger inside those crimson eyes of her.

"Here" Shoko was the first to act, passing pitchers of milk to the two.

"Milk?" Mina asked raising an eyebrow to the action.

"Milk helps get rid of the sensation of burning faster than water" Momo explained

"And why didn't anyone tell me?" Eiko said, rubbing her tongue gingerly

"...You didn't give us time to," Tomoyo said sheepishly.

Izuku thanked her with his eyes before chugging the whole thing. "Thanks, Shoko."

Katsumi just nodded at her after chugging her pitcher.

"Good thing no one bet, eh?" Mina huffed, pouting slightly.

"Betting is unbecoming of a hero candidate," Tomoyo lectured, adjusting her glasses.

Katsumi looked unsatisfied with the results. "That's it, you extras, I challenge you all to Smash."

Mei's eyes sparkled. "Smash?"

_Sex?_

Izuku panicked, "Mei, no, not that way!"

"What way?" Tomoyo asked eyes landing on him, causing him to sweat even more.

"OHWOULDYOULOOKATTHETIMEISHOULDGOBRINGSOMEFOODTOKYOKA" With that, he dashed off, grabbing a full plate he had set up for her previously.

"When did they get on first name basis?" Doi asked absentmindedly, watching the spot he had left her field of vision.

"Pretty sure she just asked for it, like Tsuyu," Hana answered.

"Man, I would love to be 'smashed' by Izuku" Minerva muttered lewdly, then paled as she noticed she had said that out loud.

The focal point of the class shifted from the spot Izuku fled from to Minerva.

Minerva started sweating, trying to find the words to describe how sorry she was

* * *

Izuku ignored the sounds of the scuffle from downstairs and knocked the door to Kyoka's room.

_Kacchan got a little too into the game again, huh?_

"Green?" Kyoka's voice came from the other side of the door. "You can come in."

When he opened the door he was greeted by Kyoka sitting on her bed, strumming a guitar idly.

"S-sorry making you come all this way…" she muttered placing the guitar on her bed and walking up to him, taking the plate from his hands

"No worries. I needed some reason to escape the common room anyway," he smiled, trying to force his body to calm down in the back of his head. _Mitsuki's hot sauce is more potent then I remember it being…_

"Oh, neat," Kyoka said trying to say something, anything else.

"... wanna hang out here till the ruckus downstairs dies off?"

"Oh God, yes."

* * *

Kyoka never thought hanging out with someone could be so tense, but with Izuku it was. Just the sheer knowledge the lightning he generated had imparted to her was getting her stomach to coil tightly.

But after the nightmare she'd had, this twisting was a welcome change.

After a few more minutes of tension, it started to melt away.

It started slowly at first: getting bored of the uncomfortable silence the punk woman clicked on one of her playlists, flooding the room with one of her favorite pieces, after skipping a couple of times at least. And Izuku hummed along to the tune, clearly enjoying it.

That led to them discussing the types of songs they liked, and Kyoka was surprised to find that the overlap was massive.

After finishing her rice, she played along to some of the songs she knew, making his eyes sparkle with awe at her display of skill. Upon noticing this, she blushed wildly, tossing the instrument like it was on fire towards him, which he grabbed out of the air before it dropped to the ground.

After a few seconds of staring at the instrument, he started to chuckle "S-sorry for startling you…"

"N-no, no I just got lost in the moment…" She looked at the way he was holding the instrument.

"Wanna learn how to play?"

* * *

"So… like this?" Izuku asked, turning so the punk girl could see his hand.

Stifling a giggle, Kyoka reached over and gently pushed his pinky up one fret to complete the chord. "You missed it again," she said with a grin. "Don't worry, it may feel uncomfortable now, but you'll get there."

He sighed, willing his tendons to relax so his hand wouldn't cramp from the unnatural position.

"Ok, just like before, but try switching to C this time."

Biting his cheek in concentration, Izuku slowly dragged the pick over the strings and back four times. But upon switching chords, he panicked. His fingers landed randomly on the fretboard, and his fifth strum let out a discordant noise that caused Kyoka to feel physical pain.

"Goddammit," he grimaced, flopping back onto the bed. "This is gonna take years."

"No, no," Kyoka said softly rubbing her ears after that painful screech from her guitar "Eons." She smirked, causing him to laugh dryly. "Jokes aside- you were doing good…" her jacks prodded each other bashfully, "... I can teach you more if you want me to…"

He smiled softly, trying to get his fingers back to the chord only to fail "Maybe sometime later?" _probably would help if Total Command was back full force…_

"Oh?" _So that's a yes? _"Cool… how about next weekend?" she said trying to not sound so excited over the prospect.

"Maybe next Friday after class?"

"Only if you help me with Present Mic's homework."

He smirked "Deal."


	27. For I have seen night keeps secrets best

By the time he went downstairs the commotion had died down and the rest of the class was gathered around the TV playing Super Smash Brothers. Except for Minerva, who was taped, singed and frozen onto the ceiling, smiling pervertedly even in her unconscious state.

It never ceased to amaze him that Nintendo, the pre-quirk gaming company, was still around; even with the rise of quirks, it had managed to survive and flourish.

And now knowing what he did about the reign of All For One… It was even more impressive.

_Guess some things are just eternal…_

As he arrived at the kitchen, away from the crowd watching Doi get pummeled by Katsumi in the game, chuckling inwardly.

"Hey, Deku," Ochako greeted him, grabbing another dish to wash.

"Ura-" her face stiffened, a small pout forming on it as she looked back. "Ochako," he mandated, raising his one free hand up defensively. "You're doing the dishes?"

"Someone had to…" she sighed, scrubbing the grime off another plate. "Plus, I am not that good at that game anyway." _Or any game, in fact…_

"Ah…" he took a step placing the dish in his hand on the pile, then taking her side. "Mind if I help out?"

She started blushing at how close he was, almost making the plate in her hands float away; but calmed herself just before her quirk activated on its own. "I-if you want to…" she mumbled, passing the wet plate to him.

He smiled in return, grabbing the plate and drying it with a towel.

* * *

The crowd left them alone for the most part, slowly diffusing back to their dorms after Doi's 5th defeat. Mei and Momo remained in the couch, the former clicking through science shows trying to find something she could pay attention to for longer than 20 seconds. Momo didn't seem to mind.

Ochako fidgeted as she passed the last plate to him. Looking around like she was planning something shameful. "H-hey, Deku… can we meet on the roof after this?"

His eyebrows rose in shock. _Well that came out of nowhere… _"Uh…" he looked at the two still on the couch, Momo's eyes catching his as she nodded to him. Mei noticing the hero-in-training's gaze looked towards Izuku too, then shifted her look to Ochako.

And gave him a thumbs up.

_We really need to start figuring out how to communicate with our eyes…_

Ochako noticed the gazes and looked slightly crestfallen, deflating like a balloon

"Sure" Izuku answered, turning back to her, getting stunned at the state she was in.

"Actually… Nevermind…" Ochako mumbled, walking away.

Izuku didn't know what to do so he placed the last plate in its spot on the cupboard. Taking a few seconds to comprehend the interaction.

The sound of skin slapping skin brought him back.

"What are you doing- go talk to her!" Mei screeched from her post, lying backward on the couch, hand on her forehead.

Momo just made shooing motions with her hand to indicate that, _yes _, he needed to follow the other girl.

He blinked for a few seconds then blushed, mumbled, "God, I _am _an idiot," and dashed off.

"Yeah, but he is our idiot, isn't he Momo?"

The elegant woman chuckled, "I suppose he is."

"Now about your quirk…"

* * *

He dashed after where Ochako had gone, outside of the dorms.

He hadn't even noticed it was night time.

"Ochako?" he called out, trying to track the clearly distressed woman. With no luck. "Total Command don't fail me now…" he forced his hearing to overdrive, straining his brain a little more than he probably should have, causing his vision to darken momentarily.

He grabbed onto a wall to stabilize himself as a wave of nausea hit him. Causing him to drop his heightened hearing. Wheezing a little bit, "Th-that was a bad idea…" he whimpered, another hand holding onto his head.

_But…_

He turned to face the dorm, then looked up the side of the building.

_I heard her._

He took a few steadying breaths, trying to get his body to re-adjust before he did another stupid mistake. _Recovery Girl might be correct about me…_

After he felt like he could he crouched down, let One for All flow through his lower body and jumped.

There was a little more power to his leap then he intended to have, overshooting the roof by a large margin, thankfully his legs could handle the impact as he landed down.

Right next to a puffy-eyed Ochako.

She looked at him for a while, almost not believing his appearance.

Then she looked down ashamed, ashamed of him seeing her like this. "What are ya' doin' here…?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the ground.

His heart ached seeing her like this. And took a seat where he stood, mulling over what he was gonna say carefully.

It bothered him how much longer it took.

"...You wanted to meet here, right?" He mumbled, looking off to her side, to the city in the distance.

"I- I did," She whimpered, sniffling a bit. "But I wanted to be alone for a while…"

He flinched, not knowing what to do with that piece of information. "...Do you want me to go?"

It was her turn to flinch, looking like she was mulling over some stuff.

"...No." She finally answered, silently turning and facing the city as well.

And they stood there, watching the lights of the city, a mostly comfortable silence settling between them.

"Do you know why I wanted to be a hero?" She asked after sniffling and wiping her eyes again.

"To help people?" he guessed. She laughed sadly at that.

"I'm not that noble, Deku." she breathed, looking higher into the sky, trying to make out some of the stars in the warm May night. "I wanted to do it for the money."

She waited, expecting him to say something, maybe call her a mean name and then leaving. Whatever she thought he would do, he didn't. She risked a look at his face, expecting to find his face scrunched up in disgust.

He was just standing there, patiently listening for her to finish the thought.

"I-" She looked even more ashamed. "My family was never rich, and I just wanted to…" she lost her nerve before she got to finish her sentence. "Why- why aren't you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?" he asked honestly, scooting a little closer, into hugging range.

"You almost _died _and here I'm just, tryin' to be a hero for the money..." she rubbed her face tenderly. "Even now I'm bawlin' my eyes out- I don't even know why..."

He didn't understand how to help with that last part; so he didn't focus on it for now. "What are you wanting to do with the money?" he asked simply. _Baby steps. _

"I-" she stopped for a second. "I want to spend it all on my mother," she admitted, curling into a ball. "That way she could have an easy life like she always deserved."

"See?" he interrupted. "Helping people."

She flinched, looking back up to him. "I-" she started blushing when she saw the smile he was giving her. "N-no, I said I wasn't so…"

He shook his head. "Out of all the jobs you could have chosen to get money, you chose to be a hero. A job where you _have _to help people." He looked to the sky. "And you're doing it to give your mother a leisurely life: If that's not being selfless, I don't know what is, Ochako."

"How can I be as selfless as ya' say I am when I ran up here to cry making ya' worry?" She stopped herself, her voice heavy with suppressed emotion. "Why did I even get up here after seeing that"

The pieces connected and he realized why she was so sad after seeing him interact with Mei and Momo.

Didn't mean it was any easier to get his head around.

"You- you _like_ _me_?" he mumbled

The world seemed to stop for him; his broken brain resorting to ignoring outside stimuli as it worked to comprehend just what he realized, based on her reactions.

_No-no way Ochako could be feeling that way about me… is there?_

_Nononono, that's impossible, right? No way she could have feelings like that for someone like me-_

_But… Momo and Mei did._

_No, they're outliers, no way this many people would be romantically attracted to me. Right?_

Tsuyu's words came to the forefront of his mind. '_ You know you would make the perfect husband, right? __'_

_S-she said that just to be nice, right? No way she really thinks of me that way._

_D-does that mean Tsuyu is attracted to me more than what her mating season is doing to her?_

_Does that mean the same for Kyoka? Mina? K-kacchan?_

* * *

And Ochako was coming to a realization on her own- _No- nonono It can't be. I can't have a crush on him…_

But try as she might to deny it- it clicked in her head. She liked him. No, that was wrong. She loved him.

That's why seeing him ask permission from Mei hurt her so much.

That's why she saw red in USJ when she thought he had died...

It all made sense…

She looked at him.

He was sweating, looking like he had a fever.

* * *

Izuku's rant inside his own head continued;

_Nonono, no way. No way they could see me that way. I'm just-_

His train of thought skidded to a halt as he noticed he was being shaken violently by a worried Ochako "D-deku?" She was crying harder than before. "I- I am so sorry I shouldn't have-" She sniffled, stopping herself from shaking him more as he finally came to. She took a breath to steady herself."Are you alright?"

He blinked a couple of times, fully coming back from his bout in the mental scape "I'm fine..."

She sniffled a bit, it hurt him to see her like this. Crying so close to him…

He couldn't help it, he pulled her into a hug.

She stiffened at the contact, eyes opening wide.

Then she slowly hugged back, uncertain on what to feel, on one hand, _he was so close _. On the other, she now knew her heart wanted so much more, yet he couldn't reciprocate those feelings.

_Or could he? _Her heart begged, now aware of her feelings; she couldn't help but yearn for him to reciprocate them.

She needed to say it. She knew that he knew what she was feeling. _But she needed to say it._

Ochako pushed against him, causing him to let go of her as she pulled back to meet his eyes. And spoke what was in her heart.

"Y-you're right. I like you, Deku. I might even love you… I- I know you might not share my feelin's but I-"

His lips met hers abruptly, shutting her up and causing her mind to go blank.

He pulled back slowly as she stood there stiff, blinking slowly. Then she pushed forward, chasing the lip contact. For a moment she forgot all about his previous arrangements and let herself be selfish.

By the time either noticed what they were doing, Ochako's tongue was mingling with Izuku's, her hand under his shirt, feeling his toned body, one pinky shying away from the contact to avoid activating her quirk on him.

She pulled back, blushing and panting a bit. She gulped. "W-why did you... w-we shouldn't have..."

He looked at her dumbfounded, trying to make sure the taste of her tongue got burned into his memory. "Why not? I love you"

She looked at him incredulously, feeling slightly betrayed. "D-Deku, ya' have a girlfriend! This is cheatin'!"

"Girlfriends." he corrected, voice still monotone due to the shock of the kiss. I _wonder what Mei's tongue tastes lik- BAD IZUKU!_

Ochako just stared at him.

"Excuse me, what?"

* * *

"FINALLY!" Mei cheered as Izuku and Ochako entered the common room, hands intertwined. "What took you so long?"

"She didn't know what she was feeling," Izuku said simply, a blank expression still on his face.

"Oh good, welcome to the-" Mei stopped. "What is this? A harem?"

Izuku started falling forward, then he rebooted before he slammed face first onto the floor, stupor gone. "D-don't call it that!" he hissed, blushing furiously. Something both Ochako and Momo mirrored.

"Fine, then how about…" Before the inventor could come up with something worse Momo cut in.

"Polyamorous." She announced, blushing slightly. "A Polyamorous relationship. It's what this is." She looked at Ochako with a soft smile. "We all love him, and he loves us; that's polyamory."

"Can- can we actually do somethin' like this?" Ochako asked, looking slightly guilty.

"Dunno," Mei hummed. "It all just kinda happened today, really. Cute accent by the way"

Ochako blushed at the sudden compliment

Izuku froze. "It- it hasn't even been a day…" He turned up the stairs robotically. "It hasn't even been a day…"

The three girls looked at him leave.

"I-is he alright?" Ochako asked, honestly worried about the mental state of her _b-boyfriend? _The thought alone made her blush heavily.

"He's fine- should have seen him in the morning." Mei made a falling gesture with her hands. "Went out like a light."

"We- we did see him in the morning, Mei," Momo mumbled.

All three started to blush brightly, remembering what they saw in his bedroom.

"I-I meant later in the morning…"Mei said, poking her hands together awkwardly.

Ochako rubbed her own head. "Th-this was a long day, maybe we should just get some sleep."

"Right." the other two girls nodded.

Mei didn't move to leave the dorm.

"You… you're gonna sleep with him?" Momo asked, confused.

"Are you not?" the pinkette asked, tilting her head.

_Just what did I sign up for? _Ochako asked herself.

* * *

Izuku looked down on the shy girl in front of hher, her two long blonde bangs flowing in the wind as she tried to collect her thoughts, muttering sheepishly.

"Come on spit it out." She teased, acting like he had other places to be, trying to give the little push she needed to say what's on her mind.

"I-I think-" the girl gulped, she was barely eighteen but her body looked rugged from all the training she probably had gone through. "I think Japan doesn't need another top hero…"

"It needs an Ideal," she said shyly, as if talking heresy. "Something that can't be killed, something that everyone knows is there even if it really isn't visible." Her icy blue eyes met hers.

"It needs a symbol of peace."

She smiled.

_She is what we need._

Then everything fell away.

* * *

Izuku's brain slowly regained consciousness. He felt like he was forgetting something, but he didn't get to think much about it as his groggy mind let his tactile sensations flood back in.

There was a mass on his torso breathing in and out rhythmically, and just a hint of it on each shoulder.

He didn't need to open his eyes to know who was on top of him; it's his…

Girlfriends.

Plural.

His brain seemed to have healed just a bit since the thought alone didn't send him back to the land of unconsciousness instantly.

He didn't know if he was more worried about his sanity or fearing whether he would disappoint them.

_Oh, God, what will Toshiko think?_

_...Toshiko?_

As he is having his bout of confusion, the rest of his… _bedmates? _ Woke up slowly.

Momo is the first to wake, shifting subtly, nuzzling the nape of his neck like a cat that didn't want to wake up from its nap on top of a laptop.

But she did, and he was blessed to see her open her eyes and look at him first thing in the morning.

He honestly felt himself fall in love with her again, just seeing the pure adoration that filled her eyes as they focused into his.

Her cheeks tinted with color looking at him, a shy smile spreading across her lips. Oh how much he wanted to kiss them again at that moment. But he didn't want to wake the other two just yet.

"What time is it?" she asked, softly. She shared his want to not wake everyone up just yet.

"I love you," he says even before realizing just what his mouth was doing.

Her eyes widened at the words, and her blush growing stronger. She responded by intertwining her fingers with his under the covers and nestling into his shoulder again.

"That's unfair, saying it while I'm still waking up…" she mumbled softly, a smile in her face. "It's going to make me think I am still dreaming."

"If it is a dream, I dun wanna wake up," Ochako groaned from his other side.

Izuku started to chuckle, fingers running through the brunette's hair, "Me neither."

Mei's eyes snap open, a smile filling her features. "I can invent again."

Izuku knew that sentence should scare him a little, but in the moment, he only felt happy for her.

* * *

The girls darted off to their own rooms to change; well Ochako and Momo did, Mei ran off to the support studio. _Maybe? _He can't be sure, but he is pretty sure he heard her scream "I NEED TO MAKE MORE BABIES!" out in the courtyard.

He smiled to himself. With the shock of it from yesterday now gone, he couldn't help but feel giddy about the whole arrangement.

By the time he got down to the lower level, he was greeted by Tomoyo, who looked like she just watched someone set fire to her personal Bible, and Rikku making cinnamon rolls for the whole dorm.

He took a seat and nodded gratefully when Rikku passed him a plate, digging in with haste.

Momo and Ochako soon join them, followed by Eiko, who after three days of Izuku waking her, was getting used to waking up earlier.

"I-is there a problem?" he asked after swallowing his bite. Catching Eiko's uncomfortable look.

"...It just feels wrong watching you eat that I guess?" Eiko answered, rejecting the plate offered to her.

Ochako burst out into a fit of giggles.

* * *

"So who do you think is gonna sub in?" Doi asked Mina, leaning back on her chair "I doubt Aizawa sen-"

The door slid open and revealed what looked like a mummy, who then proceeded to enter the room, shutting the door behind her.

"A-are you sure you need to be walking around like that?" Izuku asked Aizawa, wincing at the amount of bandaging on the teacher

"I'm fine Midoriya, you should be the one taking a rest" Aizawa stated simply as she walked to the podium.

Izuku just shrugged in response.

"As you all know, UA hosts a sports festival every year." She started, skipping the formalities as always. "And with the _recent _villain attack on USJ…," she huffed, failing to hide her annoyance, "Principal Nozomi decided that it will be a show of power, it will be held in the 21st just as scheduled."

The class filled with excitement.

"In two weeks time, the UA sports festival will occur, where you will get a chance to make your splashes."

* * *

Izuku couldn't really focus on the classes after that. His broken mind could only process so much information currently. _Hopefully, Momo can share her notes _.

But- he finally got snapped out of his daze as the last bell rang. _Its Friday… no afternoon classes._

_Oh right I gotta talk to Aizawa about Tsuyu's siblings visiting._

He took a few steps towards the door, causing some eyes to shift towards him.

"Where are you going Deku?" Ochako called from the side still packing her bag.

"Gonna ask Aizawa sensei about something before she leaves the teacher lounge," he announced, rubbing the back of his head. "Some student rep stuff."

He heard Tomoyo's approval in the background as he turned around and slid the door open.

And was greeted by a horde of students crowding the hallway.


	28. Somethings sometimes aren't ours to hold

The first years of UA had heard a lot of stuff in the 4 days they had been enrolled in the college.

They had heard about the weird teaching style UA let the teachers have on the first day when all of class 1-A was missing during orientation.

The second day, they heard rumors of a male in the hero course and seen him eating with a class, giving them pointers on what's good on the menu.

He was intimidating to look at, to say the least, towering over the rest of his classmates.

The third day, they heard him chastise them over the exit of the cafeteria, gripping onto a woman as he floated above them.

Later, they'd heard there was an attack on USJ.

They'd heard that the _villains _were the ones that needed the teachers to rush to their aid.

And now, with some sick curiosity that egged them on, they needed to scope out the competition.

To see what 1-A was _really _about.

So they crowded the hall right as their class ended, waiting for 1-A to open its doors.

And suddenly, the crowd felt scared as the door slid open.

195 centimeters of pure muscle stared down at them, face apathetic.

They had seen him in the cafeteria, heard about him in the gossip. But nothing compared to seeing him simply tower over them up close.

"Can I help you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly confusion in his face. And with that, the world crashed around the crowd.

The intimidating aura was broken.

"Wow…" came the voice between the other student's as a tall, lanky woman made her way up to the front, kiting her fingers through her messy mop of lilac hair. "Honestly, I thought the rumors were exaggerating your features," her tired eyes squinted. "Turns out they were just exaggerating your mental state."

"They are probably here to scope out the competition, Deku!" A blonde from the classroom yelled.

"Competitio-OH! Right! The sports festival" He rubbed the back of his head. "That's nice- could I get through then? I have to speak with our teacher about some things."

"You think this is a _joke _?" the lanky woman spat. "There were many that didn't make it into the hero program and were forced into other courses." Her souring face quickly dispelled, turning back into the lazy poker face she'd worn when she first spoke up. "Our instructors told us that there was a chance of us transferring over to the hero course based on our results in the sports festival" She smirked, "I'm sure the reverse could be said for you, couldn't it?"

"For a general studies student like me, this isn't just 'scoping out competition'," her face hardened. "It's a declaration of war."

Some 'oos' and 'aahs' were murmured in the crowd, some started to back away fearing that maybe the man was going to get violent in return.

"Oh- sorry you didn't make it to the hero course. I hope they do transfer you over," he said, finishing with a _genuine _smile.

Clearly, that wasn't the reaction the woman was expecting, so she froze on the spot.

"Stop hogging the way!" the same blonde from before protested, trying to shove the man out of the way. Only to fail gloriously as he didn't even budge. "Dammit, Deku, move!"

"Oh, right," he mumbled, taking a step to the right to let the woman through. Who then proceeded to shove through the horde. "...was that all?" he asked, turning back to the lanky woman, still staring blankly at him.

She shook her head and walked off.

He looked to the rest of the crowd. "...You guys want anything?"

"LOSE THE SHIRT!" Echoed from the classroom, followed up by the sound of slapping.

"Thanks, Tsuyu!" He called back as he left the classroom, with the crowd watching him leave in shock.

He wasn't what they expected to see.

And as he passed through the crowd, he came face to face with a woman with silver hair with a muscle complexion similar to Eiko, with what looked like flashes of metal surrounding her eyes, almost as if her face was cast in iron, with the only imperfection on the mold being around the eyes.

"Good to see 1-A is representing the hero course well," she said with mirth, slapping him on the back causing him to stop in his tracks. "Heard you took down some villains, good job!" she gave him a thumbs up and a sharp toothy grin.

"Ah- thanks! Hope to see you at the festival!" he answered, smiling as he went on in his merry way.

He didn't notice the vine-haired girl tilting her head, trying to figure out where she had seen him before. And a light lavender-blue haired woman wearing a monocle, her eyes locked onto his hair, sipping tea as she attempted to remember where she saw that same color previously.

* * *

_Well, that was awkward, _he thought as he made it to the teachers' lounge. _Hope I didn't miss Aizawa dealing with that…_

Izuku knocked on the door and waited for someone to respond.

"Come on in," came a gruff voice from inside the room. _...Shiori-sensei?_

He opened the door to the teachers' lounge shaking his head a little bit. It had been a long time since he was there, and even in the time, he spent working there the current homeroom teacher of 1-B wasn't a common face to see in the lounge. _Guess 1-B is better this year _. He scanned the room for a familiar yellow caterpillar on the floor, only to see-

"Kendo?" he asked, seeing the student representative of class 1-B, causing the woman in question to smile in return.

"Midoriya, good to see you." the redhead answered, turning away from her homeroom teacher. "Heard about USJ, you alright?"

He chuckled. "You should ask the villains that." That got a huff from Shiori, who looked like she was having trouble not smiling. "Sorry we hogged all the glory."

She places a hand on her hip shifting her weight. "Are you apologizing about getting attacked?"

"...I guess I am?" He smiled awkwardly. "I have done weirder stuff."

"I can confirm that," Shiko huffed from her spot under the coffee table.

Kendo looked at the source "Is...is that-"

"1-A's homeroom teacher?" Izuku finished her sentence. "Yep."

"That explains so much, yet so little," Itsuka murmured, looking at the coffee table which hid the teacher from sight.

"Midoriya what do you want?" The teacher huffed, slightly annoyed.

"I was going to ask if we could have visitors over in the dorms," he said, scratching his head slightly.

"Like that girl from the support department?" She responded sounding bored with the conversation. "Sure, Nozomi gave the go-ahead ages ago."

His face turned crimson at that. "N-no I meant- family members, Tsuyu wants to have her sisters over."

Itsuka stifled a laugh at his response. _He's just too fun to tease, isn't he?._

"Oh, sure. Kan where are the lanyards?" Aizawa asked as she rolled out from under the table.

"Why don't you know where they are?" Shiko asked, clearly confused about the mess of a woman Aizawa was. "Third drawer on the right."

"Midoriya," Aizawa said simply.

"I got it, I got it," he huffed, grabbing the lanyards. "When should I return these?"

"Whenever they leave," she sighed in response rolling back to her spot.

The two class B members just watched the interaction with confusion.

"I-is that normal?" Itsuka asked her teacher.

"For Aizawa? Sure. First time seeing someone play along with her though." Shiori whispered back.

* * *

Katsumi grunted as she made her way towards the Support Department. She _really _didn't want to go there.

But, her suit needed to be rebuilt. And she had an idea to be implemented into the design. And if Izuku's suit was anything to go by, _she _was the only one that had the capabilities to pull it off.

The explosive woman stared down the steel door of the department.

_God… dammit…_

She knocked at the door. "Is Hatsume still there?"

The door slid open, Mecha-Might standing and staring down on the new arrival.

"**Ḁ͞h̭͞,̭͋ ̤̐Y̭ȍ͙u̪͗n̺͂g̭̓ ͚͊B̮̌a͕͛k͙͂u̡͐g͚͠o̳͝u̳͐,̬̏ ̛̹i͔̊t͕͗'̭̑s̜͆ ̰ġ̤ȍ̻ǫ̔d̜̒ ͙͛t͓̉o̤͌ ̥͠ŝ̳e͉͞e̡͘ ̯͠y̺͑o̘͠ų́ ̯͠a̮͋ĝ̡a͓̓i̧͋n̰̕.̲̉ ̞̊C̹̅o̜̔m̥̄ḛ̔,͙̐ ̎͟c̞ơ̬m̭̓ȇ̝,̺̊** **"** The machine shifted out of the way, letting her in.

_...I gotta give it to her, she knows how to build intimidating things._

Mei, the only one other than Mecha-Might in the workshop, didn't turn away from the project she was working on as Katsumi walked in. "What do you want?"

She paused. Her pride was screaming at her to act patronizingly at the inventor. _But. _Her logical side was at the helm, contrary to popular belief and even her own efforts to be seen as such; Bakugou Katsumi was more than 30 Liters of anger stuffed in a 20 Liter bottle. "I wanted to apologize."

Mei's hands stopped, and she turned to face the woman. Katsumi could now see iridescent green panels she was working on. _An upgrade to Izuku's gear?_

"Mecha-Might, please tell me you recorded that," Mei mumbled, pulling her goggles to her forehead.

"**Í̹ ̧͠r̺̀e̤͗c̨̅o̹̐r͖̈ḋ̹ ͙̆e̮͆v̳͂ẽ̱ṙ͜ÿ̳t̻̑h͓͐i̛͈n̹̍g̢,̧͑ ̲̎l̨͌i̝̋k̟̚é̼ ̫̑t͈̔h̭͠ḛ̾ ͇͊t̲̋i̕͜m̜̒e̞͘ ̐͜w̧̕ĥ͜e͙͗n͍̓ ̻̄ỳ̙o͖͡u̧͘-̥̀** **" **The machine was interrupted by his creator.

"Ok, shut up," Mei commanded, blushing slightly.

Katsumi grumbled softly. "Look, I just wanted to apologize… I kinda went overboard when I heard you say you 'made a baby' with him."

Mei looked at her quizzically. "... Honestly, I've known you for less than a week and even I can tell this is 'breaking character,'" she huffed turning back to the project at hand. "But if it means anything to you, I had already forgiven you."

Katsumi's teeth clenched and her hands forced themselves into fists. "Just take the apology."

Mei looked over her shoulder at the blonde woman. "An apology for blowing up after I said I made a 'baby' with your crush?"

Katsumi's face grew crimson. "Goddammit, how obvious was I?"

"At first, not at all. You sealed the deal when you snuck into his bed" She hummed twirling a pencil between her fingertips. "So when are _you _gonna confess?"

Now Mecha-Might was looking lost. "**M͑͢o̗̍t̝̐h͙̓èͅr̻͞,̱̋ ̟̇ÿ̧ô̬u̝͊ ̹̽ç̐ŏ̰n̚ͅf͍͠e̍͢ś̤š͜e̙̋d̫ ̥͒t̙̎ô̪ ̩͗F̬͠a͗͜t̺͘h̉͢e͋ͅr̭͑?͋͜ ̯̈C̘̐ä͉n͎̄ ̡Î͉ ̮̏c̿ͅå̡l͔̔ļ̽ ̘͞h̰̆i͈͋m͙͠ ̢͊t̰͌ȟ͢a̰͊t͎͠ ͕̅n̮̕o͙̚w͠ͅ?͚͑**"

"Nah, he's still coming to terms with it, he probably doesn't want to be outed just yet," Mei's face stiffened and her eyes glanced at Katsumi. "Uhh...whoops."

Katsumi looked like she was shaking with rage, but forced herself to take a seat, breathing in and out for a couple of seconds to try and calm down. _You already knew this would have happened sooner or later. _ "...You already said it huh? I'm guessing vice rep did, too?"

Mei whistled at the explosive hero-in-trainings observation. "Izuku wasn't exaggerating when he said you were smart, did he?"

"...I can be rash and impulsive but I am not blind." She sighed sadly "Plus, she did kinda say 'you love him too' in USJ, so that confirmed it." She wiped her face, and Mei realized that the blonde hero hadn't been shaking with rage previously.

She had been weeping.

"God. I'm such a fucking idiot…" She hissed wiping her tears angrily. _Why am I crying- I know this was going to happen. _ "Sorry for almost calling you...that...back then," she mumbled

"...I said it was fine," Mei said softly, turning her head away. If anything she heard about Katsumi was true, she wouldn't want to be seen this vulnerable state.

Especially not by her.

"Mecha-Might, delete all footage of today," she huffed, her back still turned to the weeping woman.

"**D̳́e̬̕l̪̓e̹͛t̠i̞͆n̖̾g̯͘ ̬͡f̛͉o͐͜o̫̕t͎̂ą̓g͕̑e̳͘,̼̎**" the machine announced, followed by a tone that increased in volume until it ended with a ding.

"I don't want your pity," Katsumi mumbled. Staring at the ground. Forcing the tears to remain inside

"It's a courtesy, _Kacchan. _" Her smirk was showing in her tone. "Now, go tell him how much you like hearing him call you that."

"That's not what I want..." Katsumi admitted, still not looking up

Mei shrugged. "What, you don't want to share him? Can't help you there"

"That's not what I-" she hesitated. "It's- it's not that simple. I made his life a living hell for so long and-"

Mei blew a raspberry. "And you think that would make him reject you?"

"NO! Dammit let me finish," she hissed. Then, taking a breath, "I don't think I deserve his love"

Mei's flippant facade started to tear at the seams. This was not how she wanted the conversation to go, so she decided to try shifting topics. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I..." Katsumi looked lost herself, "...don't know." then rubbed her forehead "Maybe it's cause Izuku trusts you?"

"**O̝̿r̼̿,͖̓ ̹̽ĭ̭t̬͐ ̰͞c̲̽ô̺u͎̎l̤̈d̹̅ ̙͗b̲͌e͕͂ ̜̌b̹̾e̘͡c̭̎a̜̐u̻͂s̟̍ę͋ ̳͛y̤ȏ̠û̻ ͇͑w̭͂ê̝r͔e̛͔ ̜̕h͔̎o͍̊l̖̔d̅͜i͎̐n͘͟g̩͠ ̪͑ö̤́ņ̀ṫ͈ŏ̩ ͈̆t́͜h̪̑ö̝ṣ̾ĕ̟ ̻͐f̭͌e̖͒e̳̋l̬̓i̛̯n̪̄g̺͑ŝ̹ ̳͊f̹͡o̡͋ŕ̝ ͒͟y̤̍e̫̕a͓̐r͙̍s͛ͅ**.͕͘ " Mecha-Might chimed in, taking the center stage of the conversation. " **I̱̅t̰̃'̬̿ŝ͍ ̯͋n̙͘ō̳t̡͛ ͈͒ȟ̠ḛa̞̎ĺ͖t̢̓h̯y̎͜;̪͛ ̗̚y̪͐o̹̔ū̹ ̅ͅs̄͟h̼̓o̳̊u̦͝ļ͂d̬̾ ̲̅c̑͜o͙͊n̡̛f̱̈́é̗s̛̜s͓̾.̓͟** **"**

Katsumi, going on the emotional rollercoaster that was her visit, felt anger boiling in her again. "Dammit, Scrap-heap, I told you I don't deserve his love!"

**"T̅͜h͉͆e̱̓ň͉ ͙͗ṭ̑e̦͌l̬͒l̨̋ ̞͂h̭͞i̲͊m̧̈ ̲͘w͐͜ẖ̐a̠̋ṭ̏ ͚͡y͍̽ŏ̹u̢̓ ͙̚f̣̔e̻̐e̼̒l̘͘ ̤̃a̝̎n̨͌d͔͐ ̰̅ĝ̪e̺̍ṱ ̻̋r̦̾ḛ͌j̥̐ẽ̡c̡̒ẗ͙e̳͝d͉̕,̺̉ ͎̊h̘̋ȁ̢v͕̀ȩ̔ ̼̚c̩͋l̞̀o̩̚ș͞u̯͗ŗ͊e͙͋,͈͑" **the machine shrugged. "**Y̖͌ȏ̺ṳ̾ ̱h̺͡o͂͜l̈́͢d̡̋ī͙n̙͛g̼͡ ̤͌i̯͞t̰ ̦͝i̟n̫̏ ̀͢ĩ̧s̯̓ ͢͠o̺͋ņ̈́l͍̾y̘͡ ̢̀m͈̾a͖͡k̻̓i͉̐n̳̚g̱̋ ̢̕t̫͂h̹͘e̗͌ ̊͜p͍̕r̥̅o̿ͅb̤̚l̔ͅe̢̓m̫͞ ̇͟ẇ̹ô̳r̲͗s͈͞e͢͝**.͓͘"

"Have you _met _Deku?" she shot back. "He wouldn't reject me… even if he didn't feel that way towards me."

"Cause it would hurt your feelings and he wouldn't want that?" Mei asked turning around and resting her head on her palm. _I should have just listened to Izu and let him remain broken. Now he's dragging conversations to uncomfortable places._

"Yes!" Katsumi screamed, throwing her hands up in the air in anger and relief. "That softie couldn't reject _anyone _."

"**T̺̏h̜͡a̧̓t̲̕'̯͐s̞͂ ͗͟i͓̿l͉͒l͙̄ȏ͍g̳͝i̗͑c̪͂a̺͝l̠͆;̼ ̠̉h̝̄i̘̅m̡͠ ̼͘č̦â̧r͉͆i̳͌n̲͊g̽͜ ̙̑ä̯́b̺̄o̝̿u̦̅t̖͐ ̤́y̳͡o̩̓u̟͊r̡̎ ̄͟f̩̈́e̯e͓͋l̖̽i̪͌n̪͗g̛̜s̠̎ ͔̀a͉̎l͚͝r̨͒ē̡ā͔d̠̒y̠͠ ̟̀s̭̋h͢o̢̕w̩͐s͓͝ ͎̊t͕͝h̄͜ă̢t͍͝ ̰͌h̰́ê͎ ̯̋f͈̅e̦͐e̫̕l̙s͊͟ ̩̏s͈̐o͕̒m̹̆e̽͟t̩̅h͖́i̞͒ņ͘g̗͋ ͙̈t̨ŏ̗ẉ̿a̛͚r̖͠ḋ̰s̾͟ ̪̆y̞ö̮́u͉̐,̡̈́** " Mecha-Might droned in. "**N̺̈o͓͗t̹̓ ̿ͅt̙͐o̪͐ ̰̑m̭̋e̝̓n̬͆t̠͗ǐ̡ọ̌n͉ ̙͌h̰̊ë͖ ̢̄h͚̋a̚͟s̘͗ ̠̅h̯͊ì̞g̖̓h̞̚ ̞͡r̭̋e͇͛s̰͒ṕ̯ē̟c͔̎t̗́ ̙̋f̢͡o͇̾r͇͂ ̖͌y̰̽ȍ̠ū͍ ͂͟i͓̐ḟ̺ ̰̾h͎̄i̥̓s̩͋ ̡͑w̠̽ǫ̔ȑ̠d̖̃s̛̬ ̟̿i̠̓n̪͘ ̮̆t͚̽h̙͊e̱̋ ̄ͅc̡̐o̻̿m̦͡b̥̏a̬̓ṭ̾ ̺̌t̯͗r̾͜a̢i̲̔ņ̛ȉ͉n̢͛g̺̃ ̲̊åͅṛ͠e̡̿ ̢̌a͈̐n̹̂y͂͢t̥̐h̲̽i͎͗n̞̄g̡ ̜̾t̠̃o̚͟ ̖̅g̙͋o̦͛ ̤̓b̨̂y̘͘.̣̔** **" **The machine was facing her fully now, single red eye staring down at her crimson ones. **"Y̧̓o͟͠u̦̅n̥̒g͗͢ ̓͢B͉̓a͙̎k̦u̪̕g̯̊ǫ̓u̫͝,̉͜ ̼͌ȟ̬e͌ͅ ͓̓j̹u͖͋s̼͌t̜͐ ͓͆m̓͟ì͍g͖̒ȟ̻t͎̏ ̖͞ļ̊o̙͐v̺͞ĕ͇ ̨͐ỷ̟ō̥u͙͂ ̞̽ḁ̽l̠r͉̍e͞ͅȁ͇d͍͗y̡͛.̬͆"**

"THAT'S THE PROBLEM: I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON!" Fresh tears started running down her face as she turned away from the inventor and her invention.

Mei looked uncomfortable and stared at her 'baby'. _You got me into this mess, get me out._

Mecha-Might straightened up, internal mechanisms shifting audibly. "**P̰͛l̯̑a̟͡ȳ̖i̟̔n̟̈g̙̈ ̝̂r͚̽ẽ̘c͍̈ő̟r͋ͅd͇i͍̊n̙͘g̛̣;̥̒** 'And... I don't hate you… I _can't _hate you…'-"

Katsumi stiffened hearing the recording. Tears starting to dry.

'Why- why don't you hate me? I'm just this- villain that bullied the only person that believed in her potential-'

Mei watched her creation go. _...wait I don't remember adding a recorder inside him_

'Because she did it to protect him. You said it yourself.'" The machine relaxed as the recording stopped. "**F̓͢a̘t̻̍h̩̐ẹ̊ȓ̯ ̟̅c̳͑e͈̓r̳̂t̼̑à͜i͎͋n̟̓l͈̈y̥͐ ̹͂d͈͠ǫ̔ê͓s̡̿n̦͡'̥͛t̪̏ ̜̒b͚̑e̪̚l͈̔i͈͡e̺͂v̔͜e̋͜ ̳̿ȳ͓o̱̽ư͓ ͕͋a͟r̋͟ẹ͗.͠ͅ ̯͑A̰͋ṛ͗ě͕ ̳̚y̤͡o̾͜u̹̿ ̡͆c̱̈́a͍͌l̼̅l͇̊i̲̓n̙͠g̟̓ ̃͜h̳͠í̹m̭͑ ̪̎a̫̍ ̨̎l̤̚i̧a̩͂ṟ̚?̥̏**" He added with finality.

"I…" Katsumi ran a hand through her long hair, the hair she'd grown out just cause he said it looked good on her all that time ago. "I just…" she slumped in her chair. "He's too good for me."

"Pretty sure he thought the same about all of us," Mei mumbled, looking at her sympathetically.

"Yeah? That's cause of me. I made him so introverted and insecure," Katsumi admitted. "It's cause I bullied him since we were kids."

"**N͚̑ŏ͢t̥ ̪́w̢͗ḭ͠t̑͢h̍ͅo͍͡ų̎t̺͐ ͉͞r̫̓ē̟ā̡s͒ͅo͔̍-̭̽** **"**

"THE REASON DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER!" Katsumi blew up, interrupting the machine's counter-argument "IT DOESN'T CHANGE WHAT I DID"

Mei huffed thinking over the whole argument. "Then don't. Don't confess and just hold onto your love for him. Suffer silently for something you did in the past that you. can't. change."

Katsumi shut up hearing that.

"I'm _sure _Izuku would want that" She added. _Hope this works hope this works-_

"...goddammit, you're right." The hero huffed. " that would hurt him more won't it?"

"I just-"

"Jesus Christ, just fucking kiss him once and see what he does" _Mei_ exploded this time. _I've_ _had enough of this emotional bullshit. _

"MAYBE I WILL!" Katsumi screamed in return anger overriding everything else for a second. And quickly dissipated. "MAYB- Wait a minute…"

Mei laughed "I win", _I can't believe that worked._

"Oh, God," Katsumi mumbled, "you are _just _like Izuku."

"I mean, 'great minds think alike'?" Mei shrugged, relaxing a bit.

Katsumi blinked. "...S-sorry for making it weird." she mumbled looking away slightly ashamed "No idea where that came from..."

Mei gestured to Mecha-Might "I think he had it right, you have been sitting on with those emotions for how long now? 15 years?"

Katsumi just nodded, then coughed. "A-anyway, I was here for my gear." _...I got so damn sidetracked-_

"Huh? What about it?" Mei asked, relaxing a bit more as they pulled back into a topic she was comfortable with.

"I wanted some improvements on it," Katsumi said simply.

The change was instant. Mei had jumped off her seat and was in her face in under a second. "I'm listening."

* * *

Mei hummed happily looking through the notes she took regarding Katsumi's requests for the updates on her suit.

It was simple, really; she wanted the right bracer to have multiple firing chambers instead of just one.

The single-shot grenadier bracers held massive combat potential in theory, but they took too long to fill up, which had made them useless in the real combat situations like the one she had found herself in at USJ.

_While I am at it, I can add some bracing on the left arm to deal with the kickback of the single shot._

She smiled, starting to sketch up the internals of the new chambers of the bracer.

_Wonder if she would be fine with Izuku designing the outside?_

_That aside…_

"Why did you know so much about this emotional stuff anyway?" she asked Mecha-Might, who was plugging himself to his charging dock.

"**A̫̐h͇̍-̤̋ ͓I̧͒ ̭̅h̫̃a̛̲d̲̆ ̧͐d̢̑o͓͛w̦͞ṇ͞l̲̇o̼͑ã̮d͖͂ẽ͎d̻̋ ̗͐s̩̆ő̧m͍̂e̱͒ ̜̄p̺̆s̥͌y̖̾ć͕ḧ̗o̦̚l͙ǫg̈͜i̇͟c͑͜a̬͗l̝͌ ͉͆ṱ͌h͍̉ẻ̥r̦̂a̗͐p̞͌y̡̛ ̦͒a̢͌p̲̒p̕͜l̡i̾ͅc̥͐a̺̔t͎͆í̯o̫̿n̮̕s̜͊.̇͢ ̩̄T̰h̙̓o͓̐u̦̎g̱̈́h̦̓t̳͛ ͍̑ị̛ť̜ ̟̓m̧͛i͖̓g̯̀h̤͒t̮ ̳̄ḩ̂a̬̔v͕̄ḛ͡ ͙̒b̲̃ḙ̾c͕̉o̢͡m͚̅e͢͝ ̺͗u̬͞s̮̉ḙ̄f̲͌ũ̘l̖̋ ͇î̝n̺̈ ͖̚t̙̄h̪͊e͖͠ ̧͠c̫̎ľ̠ȧ̠ṡ̥s͚̚ẹ͗s͆͜.͈̕** **"** The machine responded, taking a seat on his dock, the power conduit clicking onto his back.

"Huh." Mei nodded and added 'remember to check if Mecha-Might's homicide suppressant protocol is still active' to her notes.

* * *

Katsumi clicked her tongue halfway back to the dorms. "Should have asked her to get Deku's design for the outside."

* * *

Izuku sneezed on his way back to the dorms. _Wonder who is talking about me…_

"Oh- Midoriya, could I have a moment" He knew that voice.

"Sure thing, Kayama-Sensei," he said, looking over his shoulder to the teacher. "Anything you need?"

She gestured to an empty classroom, and he followed "Just wanted to check in if you are doing ok," Midnight admitted after she closed the door behind them.

He smiled. "I'm fine, really, there is no need to worry about me," he said again, keeping eye contact with the shorter teacher

"...If you say so." She pouted, looking away clearly not believing him. "Oh, right. You heard about the sports festival, right?"

"Yeah, Aizawa announced it this morning," he rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda excited for it."

"You are going to make the opening statement for it," she said, looking back at him, "since you were first place in the practical examinations."

"Can I like, give my points to Bakugou?" He said without missing a beat. "I have stage-fright."

"Do you _think _that would be a good idea? Letting Bakugou do the speech?" Midnight huffed. "Not to mention, you can't." Then she smiled slightly. "And don't worry, I'll be right next to you through the whole process, You can hold my hand if it helps."

He took a seat on the desk, idly rolling his thumbs over each other as he looked away. "...I m-might take you up on that offer."

Midnight was internally screaming _Who gave you the right to be so cute, goddammit. _"So yeah... that. I wanted to tell you that so you had a chance to prepare a speech for it, though honestly the crowd would cheer their heads off even if you just screamed 'plus ultra,' so don't sweat it too much."

_Don't sweat it too much? For a speech that's going to be televised all over Japan? _Izuku gulped. "I-I'll try not to."

She patted his shoulder softly. "You'll do fine."

* * *

Ochako greeted him from the couch in the common room when he made it to the dorms. "So, what did Aizawa say? You were gone for a long while…"

He took a seat next to her, pulling the lanyards out of his pocket. "She gave the go-ahead, have you seen Tsuyu around?"

"I haven-" before she could finish, she was cut out by a ribbit.

Both turned to Tsuyu. "Ah- thanks Midoriya!" she chirped and grabbed the lanyards walking away

"...H-how did she sneak up on us?" Ochako whispered, leaning closer to Izuku.

"Frogs are scary…" He mumbled rubbing his eyes and sinking further into the couch. He didn't notice Mei dragging Momo to the support workshop behind them. "God I need a break"

Mei froze on the spot, did a quick recon of the room and then jumped on the couch next to him, leaning into his shoulder. "We could go on a date!"

Izuku jumped at the sudden contact "M-Mei?"

"That's me," the pinkette answered smiling. "So what do you say, Zuku?"

"Y-you don't want to spend time inventing all weekend?" Izuku asked in return; confusion almost overwhelming him.

"Nothing like a day out to get the gears turning even faster!" She countered, not losing her smile. "Don't you agree, Momo?"

Izuku's head twisted towards Momo instantly.

"I-I'd agree with you Mei. After this week, I think some time off would be beneficial," the vice-representative of class 1-A said matter-of-factly. The only thing messing up her facade was the massive blush growing on her cheeks, and her eyes shining with excitement.

Then he looked at Ochako who sported a similar look.

"...tomorrow at 9 am?" He asked, smiling softly. _A break should help, really. _


	29. The scent of the morning sea

It was 8 am in the Heights Alliance dorms, and Momo was panicking.

Her hair was down and she was switching between a bikini and a one-piece suit, trying to figure out what to wear on their… _date _. Just the thought of it alone was making butterflies rampage in her stomach.

Mei had insisted that they go to a beach, which surprised both her and Ochako; sand and waves really didn't sound like it mixed well with the inventor. Izuku, however, looked slightly moved by the suggestion. _I should ask him what that was about…_

She huffed and looked at the time -8.30 am- then sighed and went back to looking for what to wear to the beach.

Even with the stress of her first date, she couldn't help but smile softly at her reflection in the mirror. A month ago, she couldn't have imagined having a boyfriend. Nor could she have imagined how happy it made her to finally go on a date with someone.

_...Someones._

She would've thought that distinction would ruin the feeling of it, but honestly, it was just making her giddier. All the love triangles in all the books she read seemed… senseless now that she had this feeling.

A knock at her door broke her out of her trance.

* * *

Ochako groaned. _I can't believe I am doin' this…_

_But dammit, I am __not __goin' on my first date in the school swimsuit._

Momo opened the door to see Ochako pulling a determined face that looked as resolute as Izuku but fierce as Katsumi.

"O-Ochako?" she squeaked taking a step back.

"Huh? oh..." The expression melted away from Ochako's face. "I hope I didn't wake you up," she mumbled shyly, poking her hands together. "I-" she looked both ways in the hallway. "actually, can I come in?"

Momo blinked for a couple of seconds. "Oh! Sure, sure," she took a step to the side letting the other girl in before closing the door behind them. "You wanted help with something?"

"I- uh" she nervously shifted from one leg to the other, intimidated by the outright high-class aura coming from Momo and her room. "Iwantedtoknowifyoucouldlendmeaswimsuit," she squeaked, far too softly and fast for the taller girl to comprehend.

Momo tilted her head. "Could you say that again?"

_C'mon, Ochako. She won't judge. _"Can you lend me a swimsuit for the date?"

Momo's face brightened steadily. "Of course!"

* * *

He groaned as he got up. It was weird how ...uneventful his sleeping had become. Usually, he had some sensation of time or emotion from an already forgotten dream. After the USJ, however, time seemed to skip whenever he laid his head on the pillow. _The brain damage is probably why…_

He rolled to his side deciding to sleep a little more, only to bump into a mass on his side.

_Mei…?_

The girl in question whined and turned to look at him. "Morning already?"

"Guess so," he huffed, looking at her groggily.

Her tired face slowly turned into a warm smile as she leaned forward, intending to kiss him.

Their lips met, but so did their teeth, causing both parties to reel back from the sudden jolt caused by the clacking of bone. Which they followed with laughter.

"S-sorry, Zoom kinda makes my depth perception go off the rails in the mornings," Mei explained as her laughter died down.

Izuku smiled, softly pulling her to a hug. "Wanna try again?" He didn't need to ask twice as Mei closed the gap between them, melting into the kiss.

After a few seconds, she pulled away and Izuku's eye caught the alarm clock as they tried catching their breath after the heavy lip-lock. 8:50 "Shit, we are gonna be late-"

"Late to what, its the wee-" Mei stopped mid-way, eyes widening. "Shit shit sHIT!" Kissing him one last time she jumped out of the bed, sputtered "I'll be right back, wait for me!" and dashed off to her dorm.

Izuku watched her leave, mind slowly processing what just happened. "She should just move in here at this rate…"

He rolled over and climbed out of bed. The joints on his back popped as he twitched his back muscles in sequence, enjoying the cracks reverberating up his spine. He rolled his shoulders, letting those joints pop into place as well.

Then he remembered _why _he was getting up.

His face flushed as he smiled.

* * *

He shifted his weight from one foot to the next, waiting for the girls to show up. It was 8.59, and his face was close to combusting with excitement and embarrassment.

"You alright, Green?"

His head snapped to Kyoka, neck groaning slightly._ Thank God those vertebra joints are fully_ _healed._ "O-oh, yeah I'm fine, just gonna head out for a bit."

Her eyebrow arched. "Then why are you waiting here? Blushing?"

"Ah we-"

"Sorry for being late!" Ochako announced, both she and Momo stepping out of the elevator carrying large beach bags.

Kyoka looked between the three. _...wait, what?_

"I AM HERE!" Mei screeched, holding onto the doorframe, panting trying to catch her breath.

Izuku's face twitched. "And you were teasing _me _for quoting All Might..." he murmured, looking at the girl.

"I just know what you like!" Mei defended herself. "Plus it's not like 'I am here' is something abnormal to say," she added, blowing a raspberry at the end, causing the other three to chuckle. "So, we leaving or what?"

The three nodded and started heading for the door, Izuku stopping for a second to look at Kyoka. "We'll be back by- I dunno, sometime afternoon. Tell Iida that she is in command if you see her please?"

Kyoka nodded slowly, turning back to the common room TV.

..._ wait-_

_Did they all just go out on a date?_

_How does that even wor-_

She finally shook her head. "Nah, there's no way they're on a date."

* * *

The merry feeling of the four on the date faded rapidly as they approached the UA barrier. Even from the distance, they could hear the hustle and bustle of the reporters.

"Are they still camping out there?" Ochako huffed, cheeks swelling as she pouted. "We have private lives, too, you know…"

Izuku chuckled sadly. "That's just how hero life is, we should get used to it."

"That is true but..." Momo's onyx eyes locked onto Izuku, "won't they stop us for a long interview? Since you are with us?"

The dots connected for the other three, and Izuku huffed in displeasure. "They probably would…"

"So we have to sneak around them!" Mei announced, hitting her palm with her fist. "Izuku, what's the plan?"

He looked at the girl, eyes screaming _why me? _But before he could put his woes into words a plan clicked into existence in his head. "Remember the Combat Training?"

Ochako's eyes shined. "How could I forget?"

Momo smiled. "That could work..."

* * *

Mei was giggling like a schoolgirl as Izuku hopped onto another rooftop. Ochako was hanging onto his back, acting as ballast while her quirk was active on the other three. Izuku's firm arms were around Momo and Mei locking them to his sides as he took powerful leaps towards their destination.

"I AM NEVER RIDING THE TRAIN AGAIN!" Mei screamed, her voice muffled by the rushing air.

Izuku himself had a massive smile on his face. _Is this how All Might feels like when she is going around?_

Soon Izuku found his way to the beach, dropping down inside an alleyway to make a more discreet arrival to the public place.

"Thank you for flying with Air Izuku. Please remember to check your overhead compartments," he announced in a mock voice, causing Ochako to sputter in laughter.

Momo took a few steps only to fall back to his arms as her legs gave underneath her, face flush from all the adrenaline surging through her body. "That was...exhilarating," she breathed, looking back to the source of it all. "Thank you, Izuku."

His breath hitched and his face flushed, "A-anytime, Momo."

Mei chuckled looking at the two. "You guys are so sappy," she teased causing Izuku to look back at her, his blush fading.

"Says the girl that insisted we go on a date where we first met," he shot back, a sly smirk forming on his mouth.

Mei's shoulders sagged, grin drooping. "I-I thought you would have liked it..."

"Oh, so that's why," Momo smiled. "Seems like Izuku isn't the only one that's full of surprises," she hummed leaning back away from the man in question.

Ochako, still not off her spot on his back giggled. "Mei, you didn't seem to be the sentimental type."

Izuku chuckled. "She's a softie deep down, she's just bad at showing it." His words caused Mei to pout back at him, presenting a chance for him to lean down and capture her lips, which he took. "Also, I love it. Thank you, Mei."

Her smile returned full force, causing even the other two girls to blush a bit by its brightness. "I told you, I know what you like!" she said proudly. "Now let's go have some fun in the beach!" she announced, dashing out of the alleyway towards the sand.

Izuku chuckled, then stopped before following her. "You wanna get down, Ochako?"

"Nah, it's comfy up here," the brunette answered with a giggle. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all," he answered, shifting a bit before grabbing under her knees to steady their posture. His face turned towards the remaining girl. "Momo?" he asked looking at the silent woman.

The woman in question shook her head, a smile on her face. "S-sorry, just got caught up in the moment."

"You alright?" Ochako chimed from behind Izuku.

"I'm fine, just...happier than I thought I could ever be," the high-class woman answered with a faint blush dusting her cheeks.

Izuku smiled back and leaned down slightly, kissing her on the forehead, and earning a bonk in the head by Ochako. "What was that? Kiss her on the lips!" She demanded from her perch, causing the two to laugh a bit.

Then he complied, bringing Momo's lips to meet his, both parties sighing contently.

"Remind me to kiss you after you get off for that." He added trying to look up to where she was on his back.

"Or…" Ochako leaned forward, almost losing balance before managing to grip onto the sides of his head, landing an upside-down kiss. "We could do that," she mumbled, blushing as she settled back behind his shoulders.

Izuku blinked blankly, then looked back down. "How many times can I fall for someone? Cause I think I just fell for Ochako again."

Momo hid her giggle under her hand, dragging Izuku towards the beach slowly as Ochako almost floated off his back.

* * *

Being encompassed in their own little world, none of the three noticed the blonde woman catching sight of the small group. An unhinged grin forming on her face as her honey-colored eyes locked onto the back of the giant of a man. _I've never seen a man bleed before… _her grin widened as she ran her thumb over the edge of her knife.

_Wonder how he would look covered in his own blood~_

* * *

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?" Mei protested, messing around with a… _metal ball?_

"What is that?" Izuku asked as Mei clicked onto a button on the top, a telescopic shaft sprouting from the bottom. Then she stabbed it onto the ground, the action causing the main body to click, and the metal sphere starting to spin, clicking rapidly as it unfolded into a large flattened dome.

A beach umbrella.

The three turned to the device, then to Mei.

"I have no idea how you manage to do it, but you still surprise me even after nearly a year…" Izuku mumbled, looking at the feat of engineering again. "Why did you even build it?"

"Was testing collapsible designs for your suit!" She explained, turning and tossing her towel under the machine's shade. "This was just a dry run."

Momo looked under the umbrella trying to see where the panels connected to each other "It's amazing what you can do, Mei. I can barely see the connections."

"Yeah… I might have gone overboard for a 'dry run'." the pinkette chuckled, combing a hand through her hair in embarrassment. "But hey it works!"

Izuku chuckled and bent down a bit, letting Ochako jump off of him. "I'll say," he hummed, tossing his shirt over his head. "Gonna go out for a swim… I'll be back in a while"

Ochako grew crimson, while Mei almost drooled at the sight. Momo was too busy unpacking her stuff to see him go.

* * *

"You know…" Mei rolled over on her towel, her shorts and T-shirt tossed into her bag, now lounging in a cute yellow bikini. Her eyes rolled over the growing amount of people peppered across the beach. "I never thought he would actually do it."

"Get into UA?" Ochako asked, turning to the woman, in her black and pink bikini. Momo had created one for her since none of the creation hero's swimsuits would fit her frame.

"Oh? No- no I knew he'd do _that _." Mei rolled back to meet brunette's eyes. "I never thought he would actually clean up the _whole _beach."

Momo closed the book she was reading. "Wait, Dagobah Municipal Beach... " She tried remembering where she had heard the name before. "Isn't this the place that got suddenly cleaned up over half a year ag-" She stopped, head twisting towards Mei, eyes wide. "Izuku did that!?"

"Yep~" Mei popped the P, "It was his 'dry run.' You should have seen it; he was hauling fridges and cars like it was nothing!"

Ochako laughed. "Yeah, I can see him doin' that."

Momo shook her head. "...I suppose that is something very 'Izuku' to do."

"Speak of the devil!" Mei chirped her eyes zooming into the horizon, seeing Izuku swim back towards the coast. "He's on his way back."

Ochako sat up, following the pinkette's gaze, still not seeing her boyfriend. "How far out did he go?"

"Dunno. Lost track of him ages ago," Mei shrugged.

"I don't think him going out that far is safe…" Momo said looking to the distance as well.

"Pretty sure he can swim back to the shore with his eye closed at this point, he made a point of swimming into the distance after he cleaned enough of the beach," Mei said, trying to calm the other woman.

"If you say so?" Momo shrugged.

"Watch this, watch this!" Mei jumped in her seat.

"Watch what? I can't see anythin' Mei-" Ochako's words died in her throat as the barely visible green dot out in the blue ocean disappeared, replaced with a torrent of white foam as water suddenly burst into the air.

"I-is that...?" Momo paled.

The disturbance in the water started approaching rapidly, causing some of the others to start running back into the shallows.

"He kicks into gear when he gets close to the beach at the end of his course," Mei explained as Izuku came into view, followed by a giant wake similar to one produced from a speedboat.

Ochako silently watched the sight, feeling more than a little overwhelmed by how much the man was training. Even on a date.

"I should train that hard, too…"

Momo's face scrunched. "Ochako, you don't need to train hard. Not that way, at least." Her words caused the brunette's gaze to land on the woman. "Your quirk is gravity manipulation, strength and endurance training wouldn't help as much. If anything, training with the proper martial art would make you deadly in combat."

Mei chuckled. "Yeah, plus with my gear, you will be unstoppable!"

Ochako smiled at the two. "... Thanks."

"No problem," "It's nothing really," the two answered before Mei leaned and grabbed a camera out of her backpack.

"W-what are you doing?" Momo questioned, looking at the steampunk-looking device. _That's definitely 'Mei' alright..._

"Getting a pic for the collection," Mei answered, setting up for a picture. "Also what's your phone numbers, I'll send a copy to you."

"What collectio-" Ochako started to ask before noticing where Mei was aiming at.

The wake had hit the beach.

Izuku broke the water and shook his hair, much like a model on a T.V. spot would, his wet body glistening in the noon sunlight.

Mei held down the shutter button, the camera clicking rapidly, taking multiple pictures as Izuku shook himself a little more and took his steps towards the beach.

"I..." Momo gulped, crossing her legs, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "I would like a copy of those pictures, yes and thank you."

Ochako was sure her nose was about to start bleeding like an anime character. Her face a deep crimson. "O-oh…"

Their thoughts were broken by a whistle from the side, someone from the beachgoers was waving to Izuku. "Hey there, handsome."

Ochako's flushed face receded, bloodlust starting to radiate from her form.

Mei looked at her curiously. _Uh...wonder why she doesn't do that to us?_

Momo was patting her back trying to calm her down.

And Izuku… Izuku looked deeply uncomfortable, then looked at the source of the sound.

"Aunt Bakugou?"

Ochako's intimidating aura faded almost instantly, Momo froze on the spot, and Mei's finger clicked again reflexively, taking a picture of the tall and mature looking woman, sporting a black bikini that was _waaaaaaaayyy _too revealing which showed off her pristine skin.

"I told you to call me just Mitsuki!" The blonde had a face of mock agitation. "'Aunt Bakugou' makes me feel old," she added as she walked towards him with a visible sway to her hips. "Come give me a hug, it's been way too long!"

Ochako rubbed her eyes. "Oh wow, I can't believe my dream has gotten this weird."

"You aren't dreaming," Momo mumbled back.

"...Is it me or is Bakugou's mom hot?" Mei asked looking back at the woman who was hugging their blushing _shirtless _boyfriend.

Ochako looked at Mei, then to Momo. "Stop lyin' to me dream Momo, this has gotta be a dream."

Momo pinched herself, then Ochako causing her to flinch with the pain. "Oh no..."

"You really are getting more buff every time I see you~" Mitsuki complimented, her hands grazing on Izuku's toned biceps. "So, how's UA?"

Izuku was overheating. Something he often did around the older woman. "I-it's great, learning a lot!" he barked, a little too stiffly.

Mitsuki's face scrunched, and she pinched his ear pulling his head down to hers "What did I say about lying?"

"I-I wasn't lying, I'm learning a lot!" Izuku defended himself, bending down in pain.

"What about USJ?" Mitsuki hissed, pulling at his ear a little harder.

"That... wasn't the best day..." he admitted, looking at her crimson eyes.

She stifled a laugh and blew into his ear as she let go, making the man shiver as the sensation. "Well at least you look healthy. Good to see some upstart villain didn't get a hit on you."

He shuddered a bit while righting himself. "Y-yeah."

"Well as fun as it was to see you, I'm going back to sunbathing." Her face broke into a smirk. "could you put some lotion on my back?"

Izuku's face flushed. "I- you don't need lotion cause of your quirk, right?"

Mitsuki flicked him on the arm playfully. "Don't bring logic into my teasing!" She chuckled, turning to leave. "Oh, and tell Katsumi to call me sometime? I worry."

Izuku relaxed as Mitsuki's voice shifted into a more maternal one. "Of course. Anything else you want me to tell her?"

"'Will you marry me?'" Mitsuki said without missing a beat.

Izuku's face grew crimson as Mitsuki walked away, laughing at his shocked expression. He finally shook his head, dispelling his fluster and shuffled back to the three waiting for him, settling between Mei and Ochako.

"Was she... flirting with you?" Mei asked after a moment.

Ochako looked like she was still denying the reality of the situation, while Momo was still frozen on the spot.

"She likes to tease," Izuku explained. "She wasn't serious about it."

"You sure about that?"

"Mei, please..."

The woman in question laughed, curling against him. "Wanna get lotion on _my _back?"

Izuku made a choking sound. "Mei…"

Ochako finally accepted reality, and Momo unfroze. "Mei, that's cheatin'!"

"_C'moooon_, I'm sure you two would love getting him to cover your backs, too!" Mei insisted with a smirk.

Neither Ochako nor Momo argued against that.

"...If you want to." Izuku mumbled, looking bashfully at the ground then back at them.

All of their eyes shined, even as Momo's and Ochako's faces grew crimson.

* * *

_This is heaven. _Ochako almost moaned as Izuku rubbed the lotion on her back, his fingers rubbing the stress of the university out of existence. Honesty, she was having trouble not thinking about how good he would be on _other _activities involving hands.

Mei sighed dreamily from her spot, back slick with sun-lotion. "You are _very _good at this, you know?"

Ochako could _feel_ him blush from where she was laying, and she hoped he couldn't feel her heartbeat nor her flustered face from his contact with her back in return.

"R-really?" He blustered, voice wavering.

Momo nodded, her hair loose on her sides as she flipped through another page in her book, trying to hide her face under the confines of the paper. "I… I must agree it feels very pleasant."

"Ochako?" he questioned, his hands grazing against a sensitive bundle of nerves as he did so.

Caught off-guard; She moaned.

Mei started laughing. "See? I told you!"

Ochako felt steam coming out of her ears, Izuku looked red enough to pass as a tomato.

Momo tried to bury her face further into her book.

* * *

"Well...I'm gonna go grab something to drink," Izuku announced, getting up from his spot. "Any of you want something?"

"A kiss, " Mei announced, rolling to her front. Izuku rolled his eyes, but complied, kissing her.

"I would like some tea if you can find some," Momo said from her spot on the towels, still reading her book.

Ochako still couldn't meet his eyes but mumbled out a soft "Strawberry soda," under her breath.

He nodded hearing that and headed off to the vending machines.

* * *

"Wonder if Momo likes that brand..." He hummed looking at the selection on the machine, then shrugged, purchasing two different types of tea.

"Hey~" came a girly voice, causing him to turn around.

He came face to face with a woman around his age wearing what looked like a middle school uniform, hair in two messy buns. There was something… wrong with her eyes.

They looked hungry.

"Can I help you?"

She smirked, leaning towards him. "Yeah, Izuku-kun~" her smile was slightly predatory. "Can you show me the color of your blood?"

"Wha-"

His eyes widened as her hand blurred out of existence for a second, not due to speed but cause of how erratically it was moving, his brain only registering it again after the numb feeling of steel piercing skin encompassed his senses, as the knife she held stabbed down the left side of his chest, the tip growing closer to his heart.

* * *

"He's been gone for a while hasn't he?" Mei hummed, getting bored.

"It's been, like, 5 minutes Mei, the vending machines are probably farther than that," Ochako mumbled back, stretching out a bit.

"But I'm booooooooored," Mei whined in return, causing Ochako to chuckle.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Momo said, flipping another page in her book, close to its end.

* * *

Toga Himiko had stabbed a lot of people, that was just the fact of the matter. People got such a nice color to their skin when it was covered in blood, and she couldn't help but want to see more. So, she stabbed and stabbed. Painted people in the crimson she loved so madly.

Toga had stabbed _a lot _of people.

But this was the first time she was stabbing a man.

And this was the first time her victim didn't move back or stagger as the knife slid in.

She could feel herself fall a little for the man.

"You would look so much hotter if you were bleeding just a little bit more~" she sing-songed, trying to push the blade in further in. _If I just nick the heart he'll bleed so beautifully~_

But the knife stopped before it got any deeper. And His hand grasped around hers, keeping the knife in place.

She pouted, looking back up to his face. "C'mon don't be stingy. It's just a little blood."

He looked lost for words. Just stared down in shock. "...I would like to live, thank you; I promised someone I wouldn't die."

Her pout broke into a wide smile. "Oh! You are in love with someone!" She tried to pull the knife out, only to fail as Izuku's grip tightened around her hand, making the bones of her fingers groan "I love a good romance!" she cheered, seemingly unaffected by her inability to pull away. "But that's sad," her face darkened. "I would've liked to keep you for myself"

"Sorry, I don't think I'd like that," he answered, his shock replaced with focus as he tried getting his blood ready to congeal the moment the blade was pulled out. "I don't like bleeding."

She blew a raspberry, " Don't lie, everyone loves a little blood~" she giggled. "It's so red and stark~ it looks lovely on skin~"

"I- I don't think that's a common thing to like, miss." He tried to keep his voice calm. At least she seemed civil at the moment. _Nothing _like the villains from USJ.

Toga got a massive blush on her face, and a feral grin, her free hand moving with the same erratic motions to make him lose track of it before cupping his cheek. "You can call me Toga, Izuku-kun~"

He shivered at the contact but held steady. "... Would you leave the knife behind if I did?"

Toga looked like she was considering it slowly. "Only if you kissed me, too~," she said, pulling her lips into a kissy face.

_Yeah, I think Imma go to therapy after this… _"Promise?" He breathed out. _Just play along- she seems compliant._

Toga nodded her head rapidly, and he could feel her hand go slack against the knife under his own, as she rose to the tips of her toes.

_… This is a terrible idea, _he thought. _But, I don't know her quirk, and if she does look and sound like she will let go…_

So he did it, leaned down and kissed his attacker. Who moaned in delight as he did. And after a second he started pulling back.

Toga bit on his bottom lip, enough to draw a little blood.

He looked at her incredulously.

She giggled, licking her lips. "Thanks for the meal~" then started to transform. Her body coated itself with a slick material as it shifted, causing him to lose grip on the hand holding her knife which remained stuck to his chest.

Soon the disturbance faded away and he was face to face with…

A shorter, female version of himself, in the middle-school outfit Toga was wearing.

"..." Toga looked at her hands, then back up to him. "This is new."

Izuku's grip tightened around the knife. "W-what the fuck?" he took a few steps back, away from his female doppelganger.

"Well, a promise is a promise~" The female Izuku announced, and turned her back to him, walking away. "It was fun Izuku-kun. I hope I can taste you more next time~"

With that, her whole body disappeared from his vision, much like her hands did previously.

* * *

His bleeding lip scabbed over, the platelets he had accumulated in preparation of closing the stab wound also sealing the cut in his mouth as he stumbled away from the scene. _Why can't I ever have normal things? Just a normal date on the beach, not getting fucking stabbed in an alleyway! _he groaned, still holding onto the knife as he walked. Thankfully he was able to tense his muscles against the cut to stop blood from leaking out around the sharp piece of metal.

He managed to walk onto the beach before Mei ran at him laughing gleefully, before seeing why he was hunched over. She skidded to a halt. "_ MOMO! _"

The woman in question jumped at the sudden yell, looking at Mei for an explanation. Her eyes widened at the sight.

"I- I need some sterile gauze if you can make some," Izuku whimpered.


	30. I need a spare heart

_ Ok, think through this… _

Mei was holding onto his right arm as he lowered himself to the steps, Momo and Ochako rushing to his side.

_I turned off my pain receptors to keep myself from going into shock, but that risk is low already. I need to feel how deep the blade is and what's pierced. _

He gritted his teeth and leaned onto Mei, whose eyes were jittering with terror. "Ok- its ok, I'm fine… I'm fine…"

Momo got to his side, looking at the blade sticking out of his chest with fear. "I-Izuku?"

_Ok-ok, with her here… _"Momo I need you to produce some gauze, anything clothlike would work, and something adhesive?" he groaned, leaning back to the steps.

"W-why?" She asked, eyes locked on the handle of the blade.

"Cause I need to pull the blade out before my own heart beating makes the cut worse." He said simply, looking way too calm for a person that was just stabbed.

"B-but we didn't get first aid trainin' yet… you'll bleed out." Ochako mumbled, too shocked to move from her spot at his sides.

"First, I gotta stop the bleeding when it happens… so far with the knife still in it hasn't started to bleed yet. But the knife needs to get out. Fast. And when it does, _it will bleed. _" Izuku was trying to keep his voice steady. "I- I don't know how deep in it really is, didn't get a chance to look at the knife before it went in. I also turned my pain receptors off..."

They all gulped.

"I'll turn them back on in a moment; we need to know _what_ exactly is pierced…" He looked at the ground, as he slowly let the nerves transfer the information, tears sprouting instantly as he felt how close the knife was to his aorta, feeling the hole in the Pericardium, the hot flashes of pain rippling through his body in waves with every heartbeat. "J-Jesus Christ..." He whimpered, trying to keep his voice low.

The girls started to panic more. Ochako running off to grab her phone as Momo collapsed next to him. Mei held his arm as if her grip alone was keeping him alive.

"I-I'm fine, Momo. I gotta pull this thing out. I need gauze _now! _" He whimpered, keeping his eyes shut.

"B-but It won't be sterile," Mei opposed. "we gotta wait till the ambulance gets her-"

"Momo can't generate living matter; it's gonna be sterile," Izuku explained breathlessly. "Momo, we gotta do it now, adrenaline is making my heart beat faster. Don't forget creating gloves too"

Momo gulped, her hands glowing as gloves grew from her skin, followed by some gauze on her thigh. "I-It's ready."

Izuku smiled grimly, cracking a teary eye open. "O-Ok I'm gonna pull this out on three, push the gauze onto the wound as hard as you can when I do."

Momo nodded, gripping the gauze with both hands close to his chest.

"One…" He gripped the knife tighter with his one hand. "Two…" He gulped and relaxed the muscles around the knife, blood starting to seep out from the sides slowly. "Three!"

With one fluid motion, he pulled the blade out, teeth clacking shut as he did. Momo listening to his request pushed the gauze against his chest right after the knife was out of the wound, hindering the bloodloss.

He leaned his head against the steps, breathing heavily as the knife clattered down onto the steps. "Th-thanks."

She was crying softly, as was Mei. "Y-you promised you wouldn't s-scare me again after USJ!" She sobbed as she applied pressure to the site of the wound.

"S-sorry..." He breathed out.

"Apologise _after_ you survive this!" Momo whimpered still holding on strong.

"No, I need to apologize...for what comes after this." Izuku clarified, Momo's look turned to one of horror.

"We need to clean the wound."

* * *

Mitsuki groaned and got up after hearing someone shout 'three' _those fucking brats need to learn how to behave… _she grunted, walking towards a black haired woman in a red one-piece swimsuit of elegant design, and a pink-haired one wearing a yellow bikini.

* * *

"Why are you brats screami-" She stopped; now that she was close by she could see the iridescent green hair, and the bloody knife on the steps.

"I-is that a knife..?" She muttered, hand going to her mouth in shock. Izuku's one open eye darting to her. Mei's following his gaze.

"Mitsuki?"

Momo turned to see the woman over her shoulder.

"Izuku what's going on?"

"He's been stabbed," Mei answered for him. "Momo's keeping pressure on the wound."

"D-did you call 119?" The older woman asked, getting on her knees next to Momo.

"I think Ochako is doing just that," Momo replied, eyes still locked on the gauze.

"Y-you need to change gauzes, Momo." Izuku groaned. "Check if the bleeding stopped when you do."

Momo nodded, and produced another batch of gauze on her thigh again, Mitsuki looking over in wonder.

"It's her quirk," Mei explained Mitsuki nodded along.

Momo breathed out and pulled the blood-soaked gauze away, getting ready to push the fresh one. Then stopped at how much the gauze stuck to his body. "I-its stopped bleeding."

Izuku sighed. "Ok, ok that's good." He leaned back, his head hitting the steps with a low thud. "We need-" He stopped. "Mei, is there any debris on the wound that you can see?"

"N-no it's clean." Mei shuddered, disengaging her zoom and turning a pale color at the sight of the gash. It wasn't that wide, but it looked… deep.

"We need a saline solution, at least a liter to clean it fully." Izuku grunted, the pain making it hard to keep his voice steady. With the blade now gone and scabbing started, the waves of ferocious pain cascading through his nervous system had turned into a sting that was throbbing with every beat of his heart.

Momo took a calming breath and nodded. "What concentration?"

"0.9 percent- same as tears." Izuku hissed, clenching his teeth against the pain.

The wash bottle filled with saline spawned on her thigh which she grabbed with her free hand. "And I just…"

"G-good, the wash bottle is perfect- squirt it perpendicular, into the wound, but not hard enough to damage tissue or push debris in deeper." He panted, explaining the procedure.

Mei looked away, gripping onto Izuku tighter, Mitsuki looked on trying to figure out how to help.

Ochako finally came by and almost puked at the sight of the open wound while still talking to the emergency line.

Momo silently nodded again, squirting the bottle testingly, then starting to clean the wound with it slowly.

Izuku hissed in pain, and shut his eyes. Momo stopped at that. His eyes snapped back open. "Don't stop! You need to clean it fully, it's too deep and we can't chance it getting infected."

Momo hesitated, and Mitsuki intervened "I- I can do it if you can't handle it"

Momo hung her head "S-sorry, I can't-" she passed the bottle to Mitsuki, the cleaning process was hurting Izuku and she couldn't handle being the cause of his pain.

"Ok…" Mitsuki held the bottle softly. "Ok I'm starting."

* * *

Her transformation had timed out, the droplet of blood from her Izuku not giving her more than 5 minutes in his… well her form. "Wonder what that was about…" She walked up to the beach, expecting to see the women he was with waiting for his return.

She didn't expect to see four women huddled over him, playing operation.

She saw the gash that her knife left on him, and the dried blood on his pectorals, a trail going down to his abs. Her eyes widened as her blush grew darker, She was right, he looked stunning bloody.

She quickly grabbed her phone, taking a video of him wincing as the blonde one with the spiky hair cleaned out the wound, the wound glistening as the saline solution washed over it, the overwash tinged red like diluted blood.

One of her hands found its way drifting too close to under her skirt. Her face twitched. _...No, not here… _

But she could still _feel _the wetness spreading in her undergarments; her thighs rubbing against each other. _God- I should have asked more than a kiss~ _

She almost moaned out as an actual stream of blood started pouring out from the wound, the four women panicking at the sight. Izuku-kun just grimaced and grunted lowly, trying to calm the others down.

She had found him, her love.

* * *

Mitsuki looked her age by the time the full bottle was fully used up. "It's done…"

Ochako looked away from the leaking wound "They said an ambulance was en route but could be delayed, there was a villain attack, roads got messed up."

"We need to close the wound." They all shuddered at what Izuku stated.

Momo shook her head. "Absolutely not!"

"It's been less than 6 hours, and it pierced the whole epidermal layer, we need to close the wound," He argued back weakly. "I'll be fine if we close it; just butterfly bandage it."

Mitsuki looked at Momo. "... You heard the boy."

Momo gulped. _Be a hero. A hero could do this… _"Ms. Bakugou, here." She generated some gloves and passed them to the woman. "I need someone to hold the wound closed."

Mei leaned in and grabbed the gloves out of the woman's hands. "I got that, I'm used to pulling surfaces together…" She swallowed as she looked back at the wound. "I'll give you enough space to operate."

"T-thanks... Izuku…this is gonna sting." Momo quickly produced a handful butterfly bandages. _Thank heavens mother suggested I memorize the adhesive formula for band-aids _.

"I can handle it," He huffed leaning back against the stairs. "Ready when you are."

Mei looked at the slightly bleeding and open gash; it had stretched out a bit. "Ok, ok…" she wrapped an arm around Izuku's torso, another sneaking up on the other side of the wound. "On your mark, Momo."

"... Do it."

Izuku groaned and slammed his head against the steps, trying to silence the scream bubbling up from his chest before it made its way out as Mei pushed the edges of the wound together. Momo quickly starting to apply multiple butterfly bandages over the wound, closing it.

"I-its done." Momo breathed out, falling back to her ass, the emotional strain getting to her.

"Thanks..." Izuku panted softly; the act of breathing was now causing pain, but only due to the stretching of skin.

"If you die now, I'm never forgiving you."

"I promised I wouldn't, didn't I?"

* * *

Toga hissed from her perch overlooking the beach. _Shows over… _

But her smile returned tenfold looking at her phone _...but I got something good to use~ _

She smiled to herself, almost drooling as she re-watched the video. "I'm gonna have so much _fun _when I get back home~"

* * *

Mei was still by his side as the ambulance came, Ochako guiding the paramedics to his spot on the steps and Momo still on her spot sitting in front of him, head in her hands. Mitsuki had dashed off to collect her stuff, and to call Inko.

Paramedics looked at the still conscious Izuku, the state of the wound and the depth of the bloody marks on the blade shocked them, but they shook it off quickly to do their job.

They cringed at hearing that his blood type was O. "We are low on that type…"

Mei shook her head "My blood type is O, too. You have plenty."

With that revelation, Mei and Izuku were loaded up into the ambulance. Momo called her dad to send out a driver to get her and the rest to the hospital, taking a stop on the way to grab Izuku's mother.

* * *

"I-is he alright?" Was the first thing Inko asked the moment she stepped out the door, being greeted by Mitsuki hugging her tenderly, trying to calm her high-school friend.

"He's fine, Inko. His friends helped him through it. You have a strong boy" She mumbled, running her hand through her hair as the mother of Izuku started tearing up. Momo and Ochako waiting awkwardly by the limo.

"U-Uraraka what happened?" Inko asked the woman she'd met once previously.

"I-I'm not sure he just...went out to grab something to drink and was stabbed-" Her own eyes started watering. "I- oh God…"

Momo silenced her by pulling her onto a hug herself. "H-he's gonna be fine; he promised, remember?" Her own worries were showing in her tone. "H-he promised…"

Ochako nodded tearily. "W-we should go, Mei shouldn' be alone in there…"

"W-wait… if you aren't Hatsume," Inko looked at Momo, "w-who are you?"

"Vice representative of class 1-A, Yaoyorozu Momo," She said, voice leveling as practiced lines flowed out effortlessly. "I-I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."

* * *

"IZUKU!" Inko almost tackled her son, barely slowing down and stopping at his bedside. "I was so worried!"

He chuckled softly. "Sorry- sorry, they said they informed Recovery Girl. She's coming over here to give the final push, but they said that I should be fine for now, thanks to the initial first aid." He smiled sadly at Momo. "Sorry for putting you through that, but thank you for your help."

"Thank goodness…" She muttered, leaning towards him and gently cupping his cheek without thinking about it.

Inko's motherly senses went on high alert at the action, eyes darting between Momo and Izuku. "W-wha-what?"

Suddenly Momo started blushing. "D-did I just?"

"I think you did…" Izuku mumbled back, matching her shade of red.

Mei giggled awkwardly, followed by Ochako.

"Mom… you should probably sit down for this." Izuku muttered, Momo hung her head in shame.

"I-Izuku, what's going on?" Inko muttered, taking a seat on the chair Ochako pushed next to her, curiosity and fear mingled on her face.

"I-I'm kinda…" He stopped and gulped. "W-we were on a date."

Inko looked at her son, blankly.

"A-all four of us." He added after the silence became deafening.

Inko started to cry. "MY BABY BOY IS GROWING UP SO FAST!"

Mitsuki clicked her tongue, looking away. _Damn it brat, you were his childhood friend and you messed up getting a date with him before these three…? _

* * *

"It's been… a _single_ day since I needed to see you last." Recovery Girl huffed, a visible vein on her forehead. "One. day. Do you get off on getting hurt?"

"Ok, in my defense, the villain that attacked me popped out of nowhere," Izuku argued. "And no, I wasn't asking to get stabbed. She kinda just stabbed me and rambled about how beautiful blood was."

Recovery Girl sighed. "Fine, whatever. Heard the doctors talking about your condition before you arrived here. Good to hear that you at least know enough to take care of yourself to survive." Her lips over-extended and she kissed his forehead, green aura sparking on his chest as the wound visibly closed up, not even leaving a scar. "They want to keep you overnight just to see if pericardial effusion occurs, but the risk of that is at .00001 or something, considering your bodily makeup." Her eyes drifted to Momo, Mei and Ochako "...Why were you even out there?"

"They were on a date!" Inko hummed happily swiping through another baby picture of Izuku on her phone, the girls cooing at him wearing another All Might onesie.

Recovery Girl looked at the sight then back at Izuku, getting a mischievous smile. "...The university provides free contraceptives you know."

"Can you take back your healing? I wanna die now." Izuku mumbled, face getting redder than the blood he managed to keep inside his body.

* * *

Tomoyo had been pacing back and forth since it hit 3 pm, worried out of her mind. "They said they'd be back by afternoon, right?"

Kyoka groaned. "Yes, Iida. They said they'd be back sometime in the afternoon." Repeating herself for the sixth time that day

"That's weird, why aren't they back yet then?" Tomoyo huffed, pacing a bit more.

Katsumi was getting a little worried herself. "Fucking fine, I'll call Deku, give me a second."

Kyoka looked at her curiously. "You have his number?"

"Duh, he gave it to me the day he got his first phone." Katsumi huffed, listening to the dial tone.

"Oh, right; childhood friends…" Kyoka muttered turning back. _Must've been nice growing up with him… _she shook her head a little _am I seriously envious of Baka-gou right now? _

"Who the fuck am I talking to?" Katsumi huffed, apparently not recognizing the voice on the other side.

"High-class? Why are you answering Deku's phone?"

A brief moment passed, then her free hand exploded, color draining from her face.

"Which hospital?"

* * *

Nozomi had heard what had happened to Izuku, of course, she did, the principal of UA knew all after all. But she didn't expect the homeroom teacher of 1-A to request a bus for a 'field trip'.

Not that she minded of course.

"All Might was one thing…" Her beady eyes gazed at the feed from 1-A's dorms, the students talking with Aizawa about something; Worry in their faces "You are really going to be another aren't you?" the hybrid chuckled. "We had one pillar before..."

"Now it's time for multiple."

* * *

"Pale blonde hair… honey colored eyes?" Detective Nao questioned, scratching her head.

"That's what she looked like," Izuku muttered. "But, that might not be her true form. Her quirk was some kind of transformation… She turned into me after getting some of my blood."

The girls and his mother, who refused to leave even as the detective questioned him, shuddered at the thought. Mitsuki had left to grab the oncoming guests if the previous phone call was anything to go by.

"Not a perfect copy though, a female version of me. She looked confused about it too, so I don't know exactly how it really works…" He clarified. "She told me to call her Toga."

Nao nodded. "Anything else?"

He looked unsure if it was the best idea to share this but… "Her eyes were off… they looked hungry at first but…" he shook his head again. "She asked me to kiss her." His eyes drifted to his girlfriends to see a reaction. "Told me that she would leave the knife behind if she did so-"

The detective's eyes filled with empathy. "You complied?"

"Seemed like the best course of action after hearing how she spoke," He admitted, shoulders drooping a bit, keeping his eyes shut not wanting to see how they were looking at him. "She bit into my lip during it and… " He stopped, re-playing the moment in his head for the fifth time.

"Transformed into you?"

"No- I mean, yes- It's just…" He opened his eyes and looked at the detective. "Her eyes… they looked apologetic for a moment after she got a little bit of my blood, right before she transformed into me…"

Nao nodded. "...Thank you, Midoriya this should be all for now. Sorry for asking so much so soon."

He shook his head. "It's fine. Hope that could help."

With that, the detective left. Leaving Izuku with his group.

"I-I'm sorry." He mumbled avoiding their eyes.

"Izuku," Mei's voice came, then a gentle hand on his chin forced his head to look up at her, but his eyes were still on the ground. "You are an idiot."

"I know…" He muttered. Then his eyes snapped to her when he felt her lips on his before he quickly pulled away.

"Apologising for getting attacked, you really are an idiot." Mei huffed, annoyed that he cut the kiss short.

"You're not mad that I kissed her?" He asked, his gaze moving to Momo and Ochako.

"You managed to keep calm and keep her from killing you, Izuku." Momo sighed, shaking her head. "Why would we be mad about that?"

"I really don't deserve any of you..." he said morosely.

Ochako broke down and tackled onto his side. "Don't you ever say that you idiot!" She hugged him tightly.

He flinched at the contact- expecting some pain to come from the wound- a reflex really. But the pain didn't come. After a moment, he relaxed into the hug. "S-sorry," he hummed slowly wrapping his arms around her.

Their faces drifted together, and their lips connected for a second, parting hastily as Ochako remembered who else was in the room, face flushing.

Inko cupped her own cheek smiling maternally at the sight. "They grow up so fast…" She chuckled at how embarrassed Ochako got, the brunette's eyes widening as they grazed over Mother Midoriya. "Don't mind me, dont mind me," she smiled, waving her hand. "I'm just happy to see Izuku found such great women to be in his life."

"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?" A roar came from the door, followed by a slap and a barely softer "Be fucking quiet brat, you're in a goddamn hospital!"

Ochako jumped away from him just as the door slid open, revealing the rest of class 1-A.

"We came as soon as we could!" Tomoyo announced, walking into the room.

She was quickly pushed to the side by a distraught looking Katsumi who made a beeline for Izuku, burying her face into his chest as she held him tight. The rest of her body landing on and pinning Ochako onto the bed. "Do you need to get into trouble every fuckin' day?" she asked, in a tone, only her mother and Izuku noticed as being close to tears.

"Hey, it's not every day," he mumbled back, his hand clamping on her head softly, starting to pet her hair. "It's been, what, three days?" he chuckled weakly.

"Honestly," Aizawa spoke up, the rest of the class giving her space as she walked in, "I am tempted to expel you just for your own safety."

The temperature of the room dropped a few degrees, and all eyes locked onto Aizawa.

Inko broke the silence. "I'm happy to hear that you are worried about the safety of my child, I'm guessing you are Aizawa right? The homeroom teacher?" Her eyes were closed and mouth was in a friendly smile.

But the tone of her voice was causing even the pro to shudder slightly.

"But I would prefer if you didn't threaten my son with expulsion." Her tone alone dropped the temperature a few more degrees. "Especially so soon after a random stabbing."

"I said I was just tempted," The teacher mumbled, looking away. "His potential is still not zero so I won't."

"I wish Midoriya would randomly 'stab' _me _," Minerva muttered, under her breath.

Little did she know, in the tense and silent hospital room, _everyone _heard.

"If you don't mind me, I got a student to discipline..." Aizawa huffed, grabbing the miniature student by the scruff of her shirt and dragging her off. Silently thankful for the opportunity to leave the room. _Mothers are terrifying… _

They watched silently as Minerva was hauled off.

Inko was the first to speak. "I don't like her."

Izuku chuckled softly. "She's harmless, really."

"Just cause she's harmless doesn't excuse the shit she says, Deku," Katsumi muttered, still on his chest. "And honestly, no one does, auntie Inko"

"AH!" Mina jumped "You are Midoriya's mother? He looks just like you!" she grinned. "Nice to meetcha, I'm Mina Ashido"

"Wait… if you are his mother…" Jirou's looks drifted to Mitsuki, "are you Bakugou's… sister?"

Inko started laughing, Mitsuki smirked. "Hope my little sister isn't giving you all trouble?"

Katsumi jumped out of the bed and walked up to her mom after hearing that. "The fuck are you talking about old hag? I'm a delight to be around!"

"Is that how you talk to your big sister?" She seethed back, keeping Katsumi out of reach by placing a hand on her head and pushing away.

Ochako scooted closer to Izuku as Katsumi's weight moved off of her. "I thought you said she was her mom?"

"She is," Izuku nodded, the rest of the class just watching in awe as the two 'fought.' "she likes to tease remem-"

"Midoriya."

"GAH!" He almost jumped onto Mei, who was standing next to his hospital bed, eyes landing on Shoko.

"Sorry- wanted to know if you were alright," She said softly. "Good to see you are energetic enough to jump around."

"Oh- I'm fine." He smiled back calming down a little "Sorry, you kinda snuck up on me."

"I just walked up?" Shoko stated, tilting her head to the side.

"I SAID SHUT UP YOU OLD HA-" Katsumi was cut off by a door sliding open.

"Ladies!" Came a stoic voice from the door, a doctor. "Visiting hours are over. I need to ask you all to leave."

"Oh..." They all said in unison, followed by pleasantries, marching out of the room.

Ochako, Momo, and Mei lagged behind the class, pecking Izuku on the lips before leaving.

"Izuku, you found a lot of good wives," Inko muttered, the only one allowed to remain in the room with him.

He blushed in response "I- I…" He took a steadying breath, and couldn't help but smile.

"I know."


	31. With the Pride one strides

He sighed contently as the light of the Sunday morning sun washed over his body as he exited the hospital. Just as recovery girl had said, there were no other complications with his heart after Total Command kicked in. He gently tapped his own chest and mumbled a soft 'glad to have you still beating in there' to himself as his mother made her way out of the hospital, too.

"You sure you don't want me to accompany you back?" Inko asked, tilting her head, worry evident in her voice. With the recent stuff he had been through, he couldn't really blame her for it.

"Momo said she was sending one of her drivers to pick me up, Mom. I'll be fine," he replied with a soft smile.

"Oh!" The worry in her voice faded out instantly. "Midoriya Izuku, you better find a way to repay her for that. I won't have my son be ungrateful, you hear?" With the smile on her face, he couldn't be sure if she was just happy he'd found someone- _someones- _ that cared for him, was scolding him lightly, or teasing him.

Not that it mattered anyway.

"Will do," he chimed, walking towards where Momo said the car would pick him up.

* * *

_I forgot how rich she is…_

He shifted uncomfortably in the back of the limousine, trying to ignore the looks the driver was giving him whenever they stopped at traffic lights.

Well, he _thought_ she was giving him glances; her large aviators were making it impossible for him to actually see her eyes, but he still felt eyes on him.

"So…" She mumbled, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "You are young master's loved one?"

"Y-yeah…" He responded, gulping slightly. _Is- is she gonna haze me or something?_

She paused for a second, then clicked a transponder off, the red light on its side growing dim "Don't tell her I'm saying this but... please take care of her."

_That was unexpected?_

"I have been working for her family for- Jesus, ten years now… and I haven't seen her that happy in all those years. She was practically beaming when I drove her back to the dorms yesterday."

He started blushing from the revelation, a small smile forming on his face unbidden. "R-really?"

The driver clicked her tongue and chuckled a bit at his reaction. "Ah, to be young again…"

"You aren't that old," he mumbled back without thinking. "A-at least you don't look that old..."

The driver started laughing at his response, "Oh- ohhhhh, ain't you the charmer?" Her laughter faded away as they passed another intersection. "It's not nice to try making people envious, young man."

_...How was that-_

_You know what, nevermind._

* * *

"Soooo…." Mina looked at the breakfast table expectantly, amber eyes locking down on the three culprits. "Why were you three with him already?"

Mei ignored the comment, continuing to gobble down on her fill of pancakes. Momo and Ochako grew red in the face and tried to look away from the accuser.

All three of them could feel the eyes of the class starting to gravitate towards them, the full class glaring at them. Mostly confused and lost, rather than envy.

"You guys formed his-" Minerva cut herself off, the act of keeping herself from finishing the sentence starting to make her sweat. Inhuman sounds escaped her throat, and she finally gave in, ripping out one of the balls that formed her ponytails and bit into it as a makeshift gag. Silencing the rest of her comments.

The table watched that in awe.

"... Progress?" Hana shrugged looking at the shorter woman chew into the ball viciously.

The rest of the class joined in sagely nodding.

"We are getting off topic!" Mina objected, trying to turn the class back on the three who were now making a getaway with the focus shifted away from them.

"Hey, guys."

All the attention shifted again, as Izuku announced his arrival on the doorway of the dorms.

"I'm...back?"

Mina was the first one to tackle into him in a hug. "Welcome back, Izuku~"

His face scrunched up in confusion at her response to his declaration, Mina was _touchy,_ sure, but this was new. The tone of her voice also set his brain alight with part confusion and part enjoyment.

"Ashido, cease that at once, you might reopen the wound!" Tomoyo protested from the side, only to get a raspberry in response from the pinkette in question.

"It's fine, Iida, the wound's healed fully. There isn't even a scar left over." Izuku responded, trying to calm down his friend.

"Awe, but scars are manly..." Eiko muttered, looking slightly saddened by the fact.

Izuku decided to respond to Mina's continued hug, wrapped an arm around her, petting her head with the other, chuckling slightly at Eiko's comment "As cool as they are, scar tissue can cause problems, especially in places like the heart."

"I guess," the redhead muttered.

"So are you just gonna hug her, or do we gotta get in line?" Kyoka teased softly, her eyes conveying how grateful she was seeing him fine, even if her mouth was upturned into a sly smirk.

"Hey, Izuku?" Whatever he was gonna say back to Kyoka was forgotten when he looked down at Mina who was speaking again. "Why were those three with you already?"

"Huh?" He recoiled away from her.

"Why were Yao-Momo, Hatsume and Rara already with you?" Mina repeated, a teasing gleam in her eyes. "Were you going out or something?"

The room froze.

"Oh would you look at the time, it's time for our music session, isn't it Kyoka?" Izuku sputtered out in a fast pace, walking towards the girl in question.

"Wait, we said next Frida-" Her protests went unheeded as he picked her up and walked up the staircase.

"See you guys later!" he muttered as Kyoka blushed madly in his arms, both disappearing into the stairwell.

"Well...that was an exit if I ever saw one," Doi remarked, going back to her breakfast.

"Are we just gonna ignore how flustered he got over it?" Mina asked.

"Yep." Came the answer from Katsumi, also going back to her breakfast.

_I'll get to the bottom of this… _Mina huffed internally.

* * *

Izuku finally set Kyoka down on the second flight of stairs. "S-sorry about that. I kinda panicked…"

The girl huffed with a blush on her face. "Noticed that part." She straightened her clothes. "Now, do you wanna actually work on the guitar or was I just your excuse to get away?"

"I mean if you are free..." Izuku mumbled, looking away slightly in shame.

"You sure your girlfriends won't mind?" Kyoka added as she made her way towards her room.

"They probably wo-" Izuku clapped his hand on his face. "...You heard nothing."

"Oh but what if I _did _hear something?" Kyoka threatened playfully, her smirk very audible in her voice even as she wasn't facing him.

"I would need to find a way to make you forget." He responded, but it sounded more like a question than a statement to her ears.

"Relax, Green. I'm not planning on outing you or anything." Kyoka chuckled, shooting a smug glance at him over her shoulder, one of her jacks extending and poking him on the nose. "Not _yet, _at least"

His brain lagged for a second at the sudden contact, then resumed at full blast, taking in the scene of her looking at him with the amethyst eyes shining with a teasing glint, a smug grin and soft red dusting on her cheeks.

For that one second, he was reminded painfully how stunning Kyoka was.

When he started blushing, Kyoka giggled. "Don't be like that, Green, you know I'm just messing with you."

"That's not why I'm blushing..." He mumbled under his breath, looking away from the cause of his ears starting to grow red at the tips.

"...Huh?" Kyoka's teasing facade started to crack, her amplified hearing picking up what he said with ease. _Then why was he…_

…

"No fucking way." She blurted without thinking, her eyes looking at him with disbelief. "You think-" The already present red dusting overtook her facial features. "Y-you think…" Her blushing face, paired with her purple hair caused her to resemble a red plumb.

"That you are a-attractive?" He finished the thought, feeling barely brave enough to do so. _Guess that's what surviving getting stabbed does to you._

Kyoka stopped at her door, keeping her eyes on the handle instead of him. "You can't be serious..."

"Kyoka, you are hot." His voice cracked a bit at the end, the thought registering a little too late to stop his mouth from finishing the sentence.

"Izuku," she muttered back simply, her eyes locking onto his. "do...do you mean that?"

"Why would I lie to you about something like that?" He shot back, eyes darting away from her form.

"I…" Kyoka leaned into her door, putting her weight onto the handle she was holding onto. She wasn't the most content with her looks, no one gave her compliments, nor did she ask for any.

But it felt nice to hear it from someone else unprompted.

"Thanks, Izuku." Her blush started to fade, and the teasing glint started to come back to her eyes. "It feels nice to hear that even if you're just saying it to get into my pants."

His eyebrow twitched. "Well, why do you think I would want to do that?"

Her blush returned full force as he turned the tables.

A teasing smile blossomed on his face as he stepped even closer, enjoying how red she got. _So that's why she and Mina keep teasing me. This is fun. _"The only reason why I would want to 'get into your pants' is cause I think you are attractive, right?"

Kyoka panicked and followed her reflexes, punching him in the kidney, causing him to recoil and latch onto the area of impact, her eyes went wide as she noticed what her hand just did. "Oh-oh God! Sorry, Izuku."

He waved his hand trying to dispel her worries. "N-no no, it's m-my fault. I overdid it."

"Not really…" Kyoka admitted, looking away from the doubled over man.

"...Did you just admit that you liked that?" Izuku asked eyes wide.

"I DIDN'T SAY _THAT _!" Kyoka protested, ear-jacks waving around erratically as her face flushed red.

"I'm never letting you live this down, Kyoka," He teased with a grin, ignoring her adamant refusal and causing her to huff in irritation.

"Fine, whatever, you wanna learn the guitar now or what, Green?" She muttered not looking at his face.

"Sure."

* * *

"Ok so, how are we gonna explain why we were with him?" Mei broke the silence of Momo's room after their retreat from the common area, the insistence of Mina still fresh in their minds. "It's not like we can just go 'oh hey, we were on a date.'" She paused for a second. "I mean- we can't, right?"

Momo blushed at the idea of it all, having Izuku start kissing her in public displays of affection, calling her his girlfriend… Her blush turned crimson as she indulged herself on the idea.

Ochako was imagining similar scenarios, Izuku tapping her on the nose with the spatula he was using to cook for the class, urging her to sit on his lap in the common room as they wound down from the hero course, nipping her on the neck idly, hands moving up and do- she yanked the emergency brake on that train of thought as steam almost started to pour from her ears.

Mei's eyes locked onto Ochako's. "...Why do I feel like you thought something disproportionately dirty?"

* * *

"You are getting better at this," Kyoka complimented as Izuku repeated another chord, fingers moving a little easier across the neck of the instrument than the last time they had an impromptu music lesson.

Izuku flexed his fingers a little. "Yeah, I've been able to practice a bit. Still having a bit of trouble with bar chords, you were right when you said they would be difficult."

Kyoka hummed in agreement. She was having a difficult time not imagining his hands…elsewhere. "W-well, if you feel like you've got those chords down, what do you say we try out a simple tune." She pulled her phone out of her pocket, quickly flipping through songs until she found what she was looking for.

"See if you can keep up."

* * *

"Well, all _I'm _saying is making it out in the open is the best course of action," Momo argued back, crossing her arms. "It's gonna come to light eventually anyway."

Mei nodded. "While that is true, do you think Izuku is ready for something like that? Having everyone know about our relationship?"

Ochako stilled. "...Yeah probably not."

Momo's shoulder slumped "Yeah…"

Mei hummed softly. "But when have I ever let his hang-ups stop me?"

Momo's eyes widened. "Mei, no-"

Mei's eyes sparkled. "_ MEI YES! _"

Ochako bonked her on the back of the head. "We should just ask him. Maybe he'd be fine with it soon-ish?"

Mei held her head in her hands in mock pain. "Guess we can do that..."

* * *

Izuku stopped playing the tune abruptly causing Kyoka to look at him with confusion. "Something wrong?"

"I suddenly feel like I'm going to have some trouble after this." He mumbled, pinching his bottom lip then shook his head. "Not about the guitar, you are a great teacher, just about- in general…"

"Well the sports festival _is _coming up," Kyoka mumbled, leaning to her side on her bed. "I'm kinda feeling the pressure myself."

He stilled, not referencing that with his comment, but that was true nonetheless. So he nodded along. "Yeah…"

Kyoka shrugged. "We made some progress, wanna end it here?"

He tapped the guitar he was holding. "Sure. Should we still have a session on Friday like we originally intended?"

"You gonna have time for that while you are sucking face with your girlfriends?" she shot back with a sly grin.

"Ha-ha," he fake-laughed, getting up. "I'm sure they'll be fine with it."

"If you say so, mister 'I have girlfriends for days'," the purple haired girl teased back, causing him to chuckle earnestly as he was getting up to leave.

"See ya later, Kyoka." He smiled from the doorway, causing her to give a wave from her spot as she focused on tuning her guitar again, her blush hidden from his view as she looked down to the instrument.

The three finally settled down by the time Izuku left Kyoka's room, Mei prodding Ochako about her quirk for suit upgrades.

"So, you don't know why you get stomach aches when you overdo it?" Mei mumbled, looking down on her notes.

"Izuku said it might have been my…" She tried recalling that first combat training, _it just seems so long ago now…_

"Your inner ears acting up, causing your brain to think you ingested neurotoxins," Izuku finished her sentence for her. "That's my theory on it, at least."

The three of them turned to stare at him, mouth agape.

"Did you just come in without knocking?" Momo questioned before he was tackled into a hug by Mei, followed by Ochako.

"I guess I kinda did," he chuckled, hugging the two back. "I wanted to surprise you all."

"Consider me surprised," Mei chimed with a giggle, hugging onto him with the deceptive strength her limbs held.

He patted her head, looking apologetically at Momo. "Sorry about coming in without knocking."

She smiled softly at him. "I was only _surprised _that you did it, not against it."

Both started laughing at that.

* * *

They ended up sleeping on the same bed again, enjoying each other's warmth for the first time since his 'incident'.

Monday came and went faster than anyone could register it. Izuku somehow ended up working out with the small work-out group they formed even before the classes started, with the addition of Momo to their ranks.

He ignored the knowing looks Mina shot at him whenever he was with Momo and Ochako during their sessions.

And with all things that become scheduled, the week passed without him even feeling the time roll over him, one moment he was dealing with classes starting again, the next he was playing along to another tune in Kyoka's room, and then he was there with Tsuyu's siblings scaling his body like he was a living jungle gym over the weekend, most of the girl's cooing at the sight.

He could've sworn Katsumi was taking pictures or a video from the side.

And Tsuyu looking at him with the 'I told you you'd make a good husband' look wasn't helping his current state of 'dying from embarrassment'.

It felt like right after that they were already at the waiting room, the sounds of the sports festival echoing around them as class 1-A waited for their moment to go out into the field.

His fingers tapped against his thigh in a simple rhythm, trying to calm himself down. He could feel his brain had healed to almost full capacity if the rate of thoughts passing through it was any indication.

But.. something felt odd about them…

"Midoriya." Shoko's cold voice came from his side, pulling him out of the overwhelming weight of his thoughts. "I won't lose this time."

He looked blankly at her for a second. She sounded resolute about her victory. "Don't think I won't make you work for it," he shot back with a slight smirk in his voice, a sense of rivalry forming between them.

"You say that like I won't be the one winning this whole thing," Katsumi shot back from her corner, cracking her knuckles

"Don't discount us just yet!" Doi laughed, letting some sparks crack between her fingertips. The rest of the class started to smile along. Idle chatter spreading over them as the stress of the whole thing started to fade away.

He rolled his shoulders as he rose up. the light over their exit was flashing, meaning it was their cue to enter the stadium. "Let the best hero win?" Izuku conceded, causing the rest of the class chanted 'Yeah!' as they all made their way out onto the field.

* * *

"Thank you for inviting me over, Yagi-san," Inko chirped, watching the Sports festival's opening ceremony. Toshiko had called her up on Monday about having an extra seat. 'Perks of training All Might back in the day.' she had called it.

"Thought you might enjoy watching your son in action." She muttered back, smiling softly at the excitement gracing Inko's features. "I have to admit, I've been excited to see how far he's come."

Inko nodded happily at that, and Toshiko couldn't help but chuckle softly at how similar mother and son looked while they were excited.

And as the students started filing in, She couldn't help but look proudly at the sight of 1-A entering the limelight.

* * *

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED, LISTENERS!" Present Mic's Voice echoed through the entrance as they made their way down the hall leading down to the stadium, a low hum of excitement washing over them with each step,

"THE LEAD-OFF TRACK OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL; YOU KNOW WHO IM TALKING ABOUT. THE ONES THAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN SURPRISED BY, THE RISING STARS OF USJ, THE ONES THAT ALREADY TOOK DOWN VILLAINS BEFORE THEIR FIRST WEEK WAS OVER!" She paused for the sound of murmurs in the audience to die down. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WELCOME OUR FIRST YEARS OF THE HERO COURSE:"

The light from the gateway blinded them all as they took their last step onto the field. "CLASS A!"

Midnight greeted them all with a sadistic smile from the podium, cracking her whip to her side.

"Following class A, here comes B through H," Mic Added with clear hollowness to her words.

Izuku could feel the sweatdrop on his own head, and much of his classmates. _Favoritism much?_

He could see the other classes groaning a little in his peripheral vision.

"ENOUGH CHIT-CHAT! " Midnight commanded to the mic in front of her, cracking her whip again. "It's time for the opening words by the student representative. "

"Class 1-A Izuku Midoriya, if you would please take the stand."

Izuku broke rank from his class, making his way to the podium. Taking steady breaths to calm his nerves.

_"Y̨̍o̧u̳͘ g̲͗ō̲t̟̓ t̖͞h͕̕i͕͆s̳̀,̖̐ k͓̏i̺̽d̤͛!̱̏"_

He almost tripped as the amalgamation of voices echoed throughout his brain, a few he recognized from…

_USJ?_

_...What the fuck?_


	32. At peace with your thoughts

_What the fuck?_

He continued his way to the podium, trying his best to not break down right on the steps.

_Hearing voices in my head, perfect._

_Ok- ok, not the _**_weirdest_ **_thing that happened to me…_

He coughed to the side as he took the final steps to the mic, rolling his shoulders absentmindedly.

_Who am I kidding, this is top ten shit. Even with my track record…_

He finally looked a little higher up and saw the crowd, confused muttering going on between them as they saw him in his glory, they had heard about a male being in the hero course, but he guessed none of them thought he could be the student representative of all things. Slowly they all started staring back at him as if he could explain it all in simple terms.

That only intensified his anxiety over the whole thing. He hadn't thought about it before, but at that moment he desperately wanted to switch quirks with Hagakure.

_Ok̺̇ ļ͂e͙̐ṯ̀s̝̅ seẽ͎ i͍͋f th̭̄is wor̪̓k͙͞s.̩̕..͘_

He panicked slightly as something shifted in his mental scape, the overwhelming pressure of anxiety lifted off his shoulders, and he felt his posture shift as his point of view adjusted just a little higher as he stood straighter.

_Huh…_

He looked onto the expecting crowd, aware of how much it _wasn't _bothering him at that point.

_Oh, ̡̈́č̖oō̰l͚͞ ̩͊it a̹̓c̛͟tua̡͞lly ̰̆wo̹͌rk̰͌ed..._

_...Thanks?_

He inhaled one last time. _Guess I'm actually doing this…_

Midnight was watching on with some concern from his side. _He looks like he's actually lost it a little…_

" I know I am not what you expected to see. 'Really, a man in UA?' is probably a common thought in your heads. And, well, I can't blame you. I didn't believe I could be here either; it's what they always said to me. "

" They said there was no way I'd be a hero. Well, I am trying to be one anyway. With success so far, but not without injury. I've had my shoulder popped out for more times than I would care for, got my neck broken, and even gotten stabbed. " His voice had adjusted a bit, tone fluctuating like a seasoned showman. That alone almost caused Nemuri to almost do a double-take. ...WAIT WHEN DID HE GET STABBED?

He smiled slightly into the mic as the crowd started looking amongst each other. " I feel like not being a hero would have been a wiser choice. "

Class 1-A looked on with confusion.

" But, it's not the one I made. " His smile grew into a content one. " That choice was the same for everyone standing in this field today. From the general studies department to the Heroics course. And today, we will all do our best to prove that, despite everything, we made the _right _choice. "

The purple eyes of the woman that declared war on him two weeks ago caught his own in stunned silence.

1-A's confusion turned into awe, Mina between looking at Momo and Ochako, eyes questioning 'Did _you _two know he could do speeches?'

Their own confused faces were enough of an answer.

" And finally, we will show you why UA made the right decision in letting us burden the weight of the choice we made in their care. We will prove our mettle, show you all our limits. Then burst past them; Go beyond. " He hoped that the rest of the first years were picking up what he was leading to.

" After all it was our choice to go under the motto: " He threw a fist into the air.

The rest followed.

"**PLUS ULTRA!**"

The audience got riled up at that, cheering along as he made his way down. _All Might was right about showmanship being a big part of this... _His class looked back at him with pride as he rejoined them, Mina punching him on the shoulder playfully.

He managed to catch a glimpse of an orange-haired woman he recognized from somewhere, biting her cheek, looking like she was trying to recall something.

" Without further delay, let's start with the first event! " Midnight announced as a hologram appeared behind her, a randomizer going at it on the display.

* * *

"Can't believe we are stuck patrolling out here, instead of lounging in there." Mt. Lady groaned, munching on some takoyaki she managed to get from one of the stalls, eye peeking at one of the many screens of the stadium. _Tsk, that old hag looks like she is having fun…_

"I mean, they asked for more security detail, it couldn't be helped." Death Arms shrugged.

"I suppose…" Mt. Lady huffed. Her eyes were glued onto the screen as the student representative was called on stage.

Her plate of takoyaki dropped out of her hands.

It was caught before it hit the ground by Kamui Woods. "Hey don't litt- something wrong?"

In a second, the blonde hero's expression had changed from mopey to livid.

"IT'S-"

* * *

"Him!" The tall, lavender-blue haired girl snapped her fingers, attracting her classmates' attention.

Izuku did a double-take, noticing just how tall she was. His heart skipped a beat as his reflexes caused him to look down to her breasts, then slowly climb up to her eyes, noticing her lips were at his eye level.

_How did I even miss that? _

_"A̠͞nxĭ͎etỳ̺ woul͖͝d do̮̿ t͉̂hat t̖͑o ͍͗ý͉ơ͎u" _

He shook his head to focus back onto the moment.

"Intelli, what are you talking abo-" Her class representative, Kendo was cut off.

"It's the guy from the news from almost a year ago," Saiko explained, calming down and looking at her class president. "The guy that I talked about. remember? The reason I even tried to get into the hero course here?"

Izuku's heart skipped another beat as Katsumi stiffened.

_I inspired her to be here?_

The first years started mumbling between them, confusion spreading.

Mina poked at greenette's side. "Ex-girlfriend?"

His mouth felt dry and he couldn't even respond.

"Wait-" The silver-haired woman looked at Izuku. "You're the crazy guy that ran in and saved that girl!? That's so manly, dude!"

The mumbling grew louder, even amongst the crowd as they started recognizing his iridescent green hair. 1-B as a whole started looking at Izuku in a different light, mumbling between each other as the short, horned blonde jumped up and down in excitement.

* * *

"N-no way…" Kamui Woods muttered, looking at the screen as Death Arms tried to hold Mt. Lady back from breaking the screen and maybe the stadium. "The boy I scolded a year ago?"

"LET ME GO! I'LL TEAR THAT LITTLE UPSTART SHIT A NEW ONE!" Mt. Lady's voice broke the other pro's trance, as she pivoted back, trying to calm her coworker. _ Right- the stuff he did that day overshadowed her debut, didn't it,_

* * *

Midnight's left eye twitched as the murmuring grew louder until she snapped and so did her whip, the loud crack causing the conversations to cease.

"First event is 'obstacle course race'." She muttered voice strained as the back wall of the stadium started to fold into itself, revealing the gateway to the course.

"It's a 4 km run around the stadium, everything goes as long as you are on the course. _Have fun. _"

Izuku shook his head and listened to midnight trying to ignore the weird feelings coming to the surface. He could feel the pout in her tone.

Or murderous intent.

He shrugged as he dropped into a stance; Body silently going into overdrive just under his skin. Pushing the emotions that were raging just moments ago away from his mind.

The starting gun fired.

* * *

"And they are off- well, he is off." Mic wiped her brow at Izuku shooting through and past the rest of the group like a bullet out of a gun, getting past the arch even before some of the contestants started running. "Damn, Eraser, what do you feed that boy?"

"He's the one making the meals usually," Aizawa responded with a halfhearted shrug.

* * *

Izuku felt a chill down his spine and adjusted his pace just a bit, and as both of his feet were off the ground, the ground beneath him froze over. "Shoko…" He spared a glance over his shoulder to see the two-tone hero catching up to him fast, eyes set on passing him.

It took a bit of on-the-fly adjusting, but he managed to time the 'leaps' of his run to her right leg making contact with the ground making it impossible for her to freeze him on the spot while she kept her pace.

"Tsk, should have guessed that wouldn't work on you," Shoko muttered, her voice barely carrying over to him as they both raced forward. Class 1-A plus Mei avoiding the ice Shoko had used to halt the rest of the contestants and chasing hot on their tails.

Izuku turned back forward.

"Oh, you _gotta_ be kidding me."

* * *

"Time for the first obstacle!" Mic announced, trying to forget her own worry about _it _.

Aizawa looked at the screen, then leaned back with a small smirk.

"Robo-inferno!"

* * *

" Targets sighted, " Bellowed the 4th generation 0-pointer flanked by a growing number of first-generation 0-pointers. Starting to rush at the two frontrunners.

Izuku's smile turned feral. "This is gonna be fun."

Shoko dropped to a stance and let her ice loose, freezing them all. Izuku managing to jump in time yet again. "Should've given us something more-" She stopped herself as she heard the ice start to crack and the mech starting to glow from its back, red beams of light refracting out of the crystalline cocoon it was encased in.

"Icing detected, overheating lasers."

She started running by faster. "Stalling it is good enough."

She heard the ice crumble further behind her, hoping that was far enough for them to attack the closer targets, the ones chasing her. The rest of 1-A.

Then she noticed it.

"Wait- did I pass him?"

* * *

Power Loader started cackling, causing Vlad to look at her with confusion. "Ohhh- that boy is insane"

"What are you talking about?" Vlad asked, looking to the shorter woman.

"That I need a recording of what's about to happen."

* * *

Shoko felt the ground shudder as the 4th gen finally broke out of its icicle prison and blitzed towards her, the treads going at speeds that shouldn't be possible for a machine of its size.

"MISS ME, FUCKER?" Izuku screamed at the machine as he pounced forward and latched onto the backside of one of its front legs. The rapid spinning motion of its treads slingshotting him to the sky.

For a brief moment, he sailed in the air spinning wildly from the forces acted on him, in front of the mechs head as it continued its forward charge, not registering the man.

By the time its giant camera finally focused on him, it was too late.

He crossed his arms over his face as the lens of the goliath machine crashed into him.

* * *

Toshiko looked at the screen, then at Inko, who looked back in shock.

"W-what did you teach my boy, Yagi-san?"

"I didn't teach him _that. _" Toshiko sputtered, gesturing at the screen.

* * *

Sliding to a stop, Shoko slammed her right hand down, ice cascading over the ground again. She was hoping that would decrease the mech's traction on the surface, and maybe cause it to veer off-course even crash. _...Wait, was its eye always broken?_

The 4th gen slowed down to a halt before her, its arms falling to its sides lifelessly.

"Huh…"

Between its feet, she saw the rest of 1-A start to catch up to her.

_I'll worry about that later. _She shifted back to run before she paused, hearing the tell-tale sounds of manic laughter coming from-

_Impossible…_

The 4th gen rebooted, its side visors glowing brightly, shoulders rising back up as if it had woken up, its internals starting to rumble wildly, treads twitching a bit as they did so. Then its front two legs bent forward, getting more contact area for the treads as they _blurred _from the speed they were spinning in, the machine lurching forward like a bullet train even on the iced-over ground, shooting past Shoko without even slowing down.

* * *

Mei stopped for a second, the tentacles sprouting from her backpack halting their steady scuttling motion forward. _Told Power Loader this baby would be useful. _She looked forward to the goliath machine Izuku had described, the 4th generation 0-pointer. She couldn't help the grin that formed when she saw him sail through the air and into its eye with her quirk. And sighed dreamily as the mech lurched forward after a few seconds, clearly in someone else's command.

Then she shook herself awake as a few more people ran past her, pushing through the fallen first generation 0-pointers, the ones that fell due to Shoko's quirk._ Race first, dream about hubby later._

She saw the wreckage left over from the contestants ripping through the machines, her eyes glinting.

_Ohhhhh~ I have an idea for the cutest baby._

* * *

"Eraser, can you tell the listeners confused at home what just happened?" Present Mic announced, getting a little too lost after seeing Izuku crash into the mech, and its resumed movements in ways she hadn't seen the 4th gen's move before.

"Who do I look like? Power Loader?" Aizawa huffed, shrugging slightly. "My guess is that he probably tore into the hardware and is hot wiring it from the inside."

"Ohhhhhh," Mic muttered, glazed over eyes still coming through her glasses.

"You didn't understand any of that, did you?" Aizawa huffed, noticing how lost she looked.

"Nope!" She admitted, smiling widely.

Aizawa groaned and would have facepalmed if her arms were free. Even with Recovery Girl's quirk, her body was having a hard time healing fully. _And no matter what she said it wasn't due to living off of only boxed jellies._ "Just send a camera-drone inside it."

"THAT I CAN DO!" She slammed into one of the buttons on the control panel, the ones used to get drones to focus on certain contestants, and the AI of the drone kicked in, pathing its way towards Izuku the best way it could.

Through the giant cracked lens of the 4th gen hauling ass.

When the drone finally managed to get into space they were greeted by a maniacally cackling Izuku, and what looked like multiple trashed servers behind him. Two cables in his hands as he crossed the exposed wiring.

Noticing the drone his laughter stopped slowly, a sheepish smile forming on his face "Sorry, got a little lost in the moment."

* * *

Somewhere, Mecha-might stopped for a second shaking his head as he watched the feed he was recording from the sports festival. "**F̄͜ả̟t͓̐ẖ́ȇ̺r̯̕ ̘̏c̪̆à̪ṅ͓ ͔͆b̘̒e͇̚ ̦̕t͗͟e̦̋r̰͌r̜͌i̹͠f̧̆y̩̋ȋ͔ṉ̽g͚ ̫̎s͍̏o̪̾m̲̃ė̫t͈͞i͔͝m͚̆e̟͘s̑͟...**"

* * *

Ibara unclasped her hands as her vines released their hold on the ground, the Faux-villains covered in the detached plant-matter twitching mid-air uselessly as she hoisted herself up in the air again, vines shooting forward and latching onto the ground and pulling her body forward in frightening pace as she made her way back up to the top 10.

Her mind was still somewhat stuck up on the image of the man with the green hair on the podium, trying to place where she saw him previously.

_...I remember that man from somewhere else don't I?_

Then it hit her.

_...why do I recall archangel Michael when I think about him?_

* * *

Izuku had to come to terms with how bad of an idea hijacking the 4th gen was as the ground beneath him decided being level and horizontal was not 'cool' anymore, opting to suddenly shift 90 degrees as the mech started falling down _into _something. A pit he would have avoided if he just ran up to it instead of just driving practically blind, only the stadium to his right giving some indication of where he was supposed to go.

"_ Ỹ̢ea̤̽h͚͒, bu͈̾t w̩̕ȍ̫uldn't̙̒ ̲͛have ̮͋b̜̓è̤e͍̿n ȃ̳ş̇ coȏ͈l ț̎hough."_

"Ok, you need to shut up for a second." He hissed, scrambling out the broken eye and grabbing onto the- _mechanical shifting walls of the chasm?_

_"W̞̓h̦̊ȁ̮a̙̒á͟ȁ̙?"_

_What fresh hell is this?_

* * *

Itsuka shrugged when she saw Mei messing with scrap on the sidelines, and punched another faux-villain with her enlarged hand, the force it generated being violent enough for the shrapnel from her target to hit and detonate the one behind it in a glorious chain reaction. Smirking a bit she resumed her dash down the course.

" SECOND OBSTACLE! CYBERTRONIAN PITS! " Mic's words echoed over the whole course.

" Did I read that right? "

The tendrils jutting out from Mei's modified backpack reeled back in just as the announcement echoed through the course, the machine she built in record time humming to life softly. Her mind still trying to comprehend how the fuck 'cybertronian pits' fit into the obstacle course of UA.

"Power Loader is letting her passions show through…" She looked over the green-plated machine looking down at her. "I'm not one to talk, though."

* * *

Shoko slowed to a stop after seeing the giant form of the 4th gen get swallowed up by the massive crevice encompassing the race course. "Well… that's a thing."

She took a few more steps forward seeing the pillars of mechanical chaos, constantly shifting, connecting and disconnecting panels realigning and rotating ad nauseum. Just looking at it gave her vertigo. "What even is this?"

Izuku, scaling back up from the shifting wall of the chasm answered her rhetorical question. "I think its a reference to something."

"Doesn't matter," she huffed with a slight twitch to her lips before jumping on and freezing a chunk of the machinery, creating pathways that lasted just enough for her to skate across before the torque behind the pillars destroyed the icing keeping the surfaces adhered.

Izuku shrugged, and started watching the timing of the platforms for a second, then started running across, platforms barely shifting in time to get under his feet as he dashed after the woman.

* * *

"...Ok, this is getting tedious." Momo looked on as more 0-pointers flooded the area, blocking her path again. "What would Izuku do?"

Kyoka, using one of her jacks to decapitate nearby 3- and 2-pointers answered for her. "Brute force it though?"

"Not really-… but_ I_ can do that," Momo muttered with a smirk.

Kyoka had to shield her eyes as Momo was enveloped in the bright blue of the creation hero's quirk.

* * *

Ochako almost lost control of her quirk as bright light flared from her peripheral vision, but she ignored it as she landed and ran on top of the 0-pointer's head, taking a leap with negated gravity across to the next one, gaining speed with each successive dash. "What was that about?"

Her body shook as something blew up on the ground, followed by a deafening crunch as one of the 0-pointers' chest and neck caved in, collapsing onto one of its nearby brethren. "Bakugou?"

* * *

Eiko and Tetsutetsu paused for a second, looking at each other as the sparking faux-villains they both punched in sync collapsed in front of them. "Same quirk?"

"Same quirk!"

They both stumbled forward a bit as an explosion shook them from behind.

* * *

Katsuki was avoiding the destruction with steady explosions behind her shooting her forward and around obstacles, just as another explosion rumbled in the background. "The fuck?"

* * *

Mei cackled from the arms of Deku-droid as it shot past contestants. The propulsion system she cobbled together using unfired missiles formed its back, making it more of a rocket than anything else. But, even at the speed she was shooting through at, she managed to catch a glimpse of Momo and the glorious piece of hardware she had conjured up.

Momo huffed with pleasure as the 0-pointer crumbled in front of her, the muzzle brake of the auto-cannon she created still smoking lightly as the massive cartridge clattered on the ground, the gas piston in the barrel having dealt with the rest of the recoil by chambering another in its place.

Kyoka could only gape in awe and fear at the sight. "Holy shit."

The chain leading from her back clacked as she shifted her grip and pulled the gun closer to her body, starting to run and shoot what amounted to an anti-tank cannon on steroids to any 0 pointer that looked to be travelling too close to her set path. The gun was only operable by her thanks to the titanium alloy she had used for it, making it no heavier than a dumbbell in her arms.

* * *

Mic's face paled in the control booth as multiple 0-pointers started to go down by a rapidly advancing Momo. Catching up to the 4th and 3rd place while still taking down the goliaths that were designed to hinder participants, shooting then rushing under collapsing debris to block anyone that would try to follow her.

"E-Erase-"

"Didn't feed her anything weird either."

"B-bu-"

* * *

The rest of them caught up to Shoko by the time she slowed down slightly while passing the minefield, Izuku had managed to rush on ahead without problems as his body automatically avoided the slight bumps on the ground.

And Ochako had somehow ended up on the back of the pack, panicking slightly from it.

_I can't just float m'self over them all, that would take too long…_

_And I can't just run by them as fast as the res-_

Her thoughts got interrupted as she saw Minerva get blasted by a mine on the field, her light body shooting away from her previous spot attempting to latch onto Momo.

_...That could work_

* * *

Mic did a double take as she saw what Ochako was plotting. _No- no, nonononono…_

Ochako pressed her fingers against her exposed forearm just as she stepped on a cluster of mines, the force of the explosion shooting her off like a meteorite toward the finish line, past the competition.

"WHY CAN'T YOU HAVE JUST _ONE _NORMAL STUDENT?"

Aizawa was almost in tears with laughter.

* * *

Izuku did something stupid, hearing the larger than normal blast he spared a glance back, seeing Ochako sail through the sky with the force of a shooting star.

Then he heard a click under him.

_"Sor͇̄r̹̿y,̢͂ t͈͗hat o̻͠nḙ̂ wa̽ͅs ̫̎o̠̅n m̫͆ḙ͌. ̛̦I ̻͝mes͚̍s̜̍ed ̧̒up̻̔ "_

_...Shit._

The next moment he was blown up into the sky.

Straight into Ochako's path.

He didn't even have time to panic as she crashed onto his back, her quirk already activating on him as they both hurtled forward to the goal.

Panicking due to Izuku's added upward momentum dragging them both higher in the sky she released her quirk right after they made it out of the minefield both rolling onto their feet and continuing their dash.

"Told you martial arts would help!" Izuku laughed, slightly gaining headway as they rushed side by side, causing the woman to giggle slightly as the ribbon came to view for the both of them.

* * *

Mic was almost sobbing inside. "AND IT'S THE END FOLKS! CLASS-A'S MIDORIYA, WHO KEPT HEADWAY THE WHOLE RACE AND URARAKA CATCHING UP AT THE LAST MOMENT ARE HEAD TO HEAD IN THE FINAL CLEARING. THE REST ARE NOT FAR BEHIND!" She stopped for a second.

"Wait- are we missing a competitor? From one of the B-class?"

* * *

Saiko cursed her luck.

Her thermos was almost empty; the maximum 'support' they had given her was low and if not for her vigorous training, she would've been left behind long ago. Well, that and the two-pointer she had hijacked.

She petted the bot as it sped further into the minefield as she took yet another sip and calculated the probable positions of the mines.

She clicked her tongue as the rush started to fade. She started having more and more trouble noticing the small things that hinted at the locations of the mines, and how much she should cross the wires to make the machine to swerve to dodge.

Her quirk was losing steam and she was about to lose her spot in the next leg of the tournament.

Unless…

She looked at the machine under her, the frame and how it was built, then the maniacs that were at the lead.

She was seeing the mines as obstacles.

How close-minded of her.

Saiko smiled, grateful to be in UA to learn lessons like this.

"It seems that my formula for success need an adjustment."

* * *

"...Aizawa, I got good news," Mic sighed, sounding more scared than relieved.

Aizawa hummed a small sound of curious acknowledgment.

"Your class doesn't have the monopoly on crazy," Mic shuddered as the minefield detonated once more, a streak of lavender-blue hair shooting forward.

The flying machine was in the perfect angle for the most distance, the two-pointer almost skipping over the field like a stone on water. It was setting off mine after mine and building up speed as the successive explosions took their toll and reduced the machine to a flying scrapheap, shooting forward like a bullet with Saiko still managing to surf it through the air.

In a moment, she had caught up to the lead.


	33. Tell me what is it you plan to do

Miruko tapped her foot impatiently, watching the screen from the bleachers of the colossal stadium. _I came here to watch fighting, dammit, not this pansy-ass race!_

She squinted back at the competitors starting to run, using their skills to get in the way of other people._ Trying to stop others instead of bursting through? Such a weak thing to do..._

Then she flinched, noticing it. The student rep blazing through, without trying to hinder others, keeping the first place with pure speed and strength alone.

"MISS ME, FUCKER?" came his live voice from the hologram projection in the stadium.

The rabbit hero leaned in as the boy used the mech's own motion against it, a broad smile forming on her lips as he crashed into its head, her rabbit ears twitching.

_That kid has some balls though, doesn't he?_

* * *

Mandalay rubbed her face watching the race. UA had reached out to the Wild Wild Pussycats and asked them for help with summer training for the first year hero students, they had thought it would be a good idea to see what they were bringing to the table.

Mandalay regretted that decision.

Pixie-bob hadn't stopped cooing since the student representative made it to the stage. _We get it. He looks like he was chiseled out of marble, we just don't care._

It wasn't helping that with each maneuver the class did, the summer camp looked more and more daunting.

_Eraser, just what the hell are you dropping onto our heads?_

* * *

Ms. Joke couldn't help but laugh at the shocked and surprised faces of the audience as 1-A held nothing back. Each scheme of theirs, more outrageous than the previous, had her sides _aching _.

Then she heard Mic's reaction to_ \- Uraka?- was there another 'ra' in there? I forgot. _Gravity-girl's

little mine-hop and she almost fell out of her seat, Aizawa laughing along with her not helping her current state of _losing her fucking mind _.

* * *

Momo gaped as she saw Ochako shoot by her overhead, surpassing Shoko and Katsumi and going for the lead with the sudden speed boost she got. For a moment, her eyes turned to the gun she was still lugging around. Stopping and trying to take off the straps connecting her to the ordinance would have been just longer than simply running with the thing.

Her eyes went up to the tip of its barrel for a second, realization making her stop in her tracks.

The muzzle break.

The recoil dampener she had designed onto the canon that would usually have the kickback of a car-crash.

"...That would be a very Izuku thing to do."

* * *

The muzzle break clattered to the ground, and as fellow racers hit the deck in fear. Momo aimed the gun to the ground, non-newtonian plating forming over her shoulder, where the stock rested against her body.

And pulled the trigger.

The rest was simple physics, really.

Another explosion rattled the last leg of the race as she hit the ground running next to them in a cloud of smoke, legs still a little wobbly but still keeping up with the two. The wreckage of the cannon still hanging from her shoulder.

"REMIND ME TO NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" She yelled, ears ringing as she barely kept up with Izuku and Ochako.

"Do what again?" Izuku asked. Trying to ignore the fact that she had unzipped her front, giving them both a good view of her sports bra and bare stomach.

"WHAT?" Momo responded, ears still not working.

" Class- class A's Yaoyorozu just joined the lead after- after using the recoil of her weapon to shoot herself further… " The sound of a head slamming the desk echoed in the announcement system, with what sounded like glasses clattering onto the surface.

" Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Eraser. "

Aizawa huffed a " Oh God, it's spreading. " That the mic picked up.

Izuku almost cackled again. "YOU TWO ARE INSANE!"

"WE LEARNED FROM THE BEST!" Momo screamed back, her hearing returning slowly.

* * *

Inko's mouth fell open, watching Momo, too, do something more dangerous than she could have imagined. "W- what are they _teaching _our kids on this school?" She asked, not being able to help herself.

All Might felt the sweatdrop coming and did her best to hold it back. "I- I don't think it's UA that's teaching these to the kids." She shuddered a bit as Momo managed to land without breaking anything, running side-by-side with the other two in the lead as they all entered the tunnel. The feed cutting off. "It sounds like they came up with it on their own."

Inko nodded dumbly at that. _Wait… if those two are doing that…_

_Oh God, what's Mei gonna do?_

* * *

"Deku-droid"

The machine's glowing eyes turned to the girl in its arms.

She smirked up to it. "Plus ultra."

Its back transformed, even more thrusters sprouting from it's back, as the droids internal inhibitors turned off. The propulsion system firing off at 110%.

It ignored the notifications about the engines starting to overheat.

* * *

Toga sighed as they all made it to the tunnel. _Guess he isn't bleeding just yet…_

_Hope you bleed a lot for me again, Izuku my love~_

She started replaying the video of the beach again, sighing slightly. _I miss that crimson, tasty blood of yours…_

* * *

Present Mic attempted to regain what composure she lost during the race. This was the final, it was important. _Keep it together, you are a pro!._

"I don't think I am exaggerating when I say no one expected this outcome." She inhaled.

"FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS, THE FIRST LEG OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL COMES DOWN TO THE WIRE! LET'S SEE WHO'S GONNA COME OUT ON TOP, EH LISTENERS?"

The gate buzzed as Uraraka, Izuku and Momo ran in side-by-side, slowing down the best they could after that last dash inside.

"It's- IT'S A PHOTO-FINISH!"

Momo's legs finally started caving in under her as she stopped, almost falling to the ground before Ochako and Izuku held her from her sides, helping her stand.

All of them were panting hard.

"It's been a while... since I saw you so out of breath, Deku." Ochako chuckled, Momo panting softly and nodding while zipping her tracksuit back up.

"Pushed hard to keep up with you guys... well, ahead." He smiled back, eyes drifting off to the crowd cheering wildly. "Think they liked it, though?"

They all shifted back for a second as the tunnel rumbled, Mei flying through on the arms of her baby barely slowing down and stopping in time before it smacked into the wall. The machine hissing and billowing with steam after it finally landed. Mei jumped out of its arms and ran up to the other three

Izuku took one look at the robot, then to Mei. "Should I be worried about how close that looks to me?"

"It barely kept up with the original, so no need to fear me replacing you." Mei giggled, smiling widely. "Plus- eh you'll understand it better when it happens"

_"I̬̕tŝ͖ ̤̄gonná̙ b̙͋l̓͢ȯ̪w̨͠ u̧̅p isn̤̈'̖̀t̻͌ ̩͗i̯̋t?"_

_Hush, it's rude to assume, plus who even are you?_

Before the voice could answer Deku-Droid collapsed to the floor, sparking and exploding in a puff of smoke, not hard enough to shoot shrapnel.

_"C̣̔ả̯l͔̔l̼̆ed ̰̆it̪̉"_

"Still, not bad for something you built on the side of the trac-" Momo was cut off by a screech from the tunnel followed by additional explosions.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Katsumi raged, passing the gates followed a second later by Shoko.

Whatever she was gonna say next went forgotten as the wreckage of a 2 pointer screeched to a halt next to him, a tall woman hopping off of it, dusting herself off. "Just as calculated."

"WHAT THE _ACTUAL _FUCK?!" Katsumi added quite eloquently.

Saiko looked down to Katsumi, with a raised eyebrow. "I'm fairly certain I was one of the more normal ones to reach the end so far."

Momo giggled gently. "Quite."

Izuku finally got to look at her up close for the first time. She was around five centimeters taller than him, as he was eye level with her plump lips, and he immediately noticed how her blue-lavender eyes shone with the same intelligence as Momo's. He got a full view of how long and silky her hair was as she adjusted it with a hand kiting through the back.

His eyes traveled down to her bust, massive in its own right, but his eyes stopped at her arms.

She was buff, somewhere between Eiko and Katsumi; her tracksuit gripping around her biceps and thighs in a mouth-watering way.

His eyes rushed up, taking in her thin waist, and the thermos on her hip, before locking onto her blue eyes. "A thermos?" he muttered, almost choking on his words.

_"̩L͔o͙v͇es͢t̩r̰uck mṵc͟h͜?~" ̲_

_Shut up! It's just been too long since I saw someone taller than me._

_"̡F̠a̮ir͓.͙"̲_

_Especially not one so…_

_"T̺hi̗ckͅ?̺"͖_

_Voice, _**_please_ **_._

_The mysterious roommate in his head only giggled playfully._

"Oh, this? It's for my quirk," Saiko answered, tapping the thermos. "I would tell you what it's for, but we are still competing, so~" She winked, "Maybe after all of this is over?"

"Hmm…" Izuku seemed zoned out looking into her eyes, green staring deep into her blue-lavender.

Saiko's cheeks started slowly growing red as the intense stare felt like he was staring straight into her soul.

"...We don't get to have support items unless we can't use our quirks without them," he noted, spitting it out like a machine reading out parameters. "So you need to drink something warm to activate your quirk, and considering your method of arrival, you probably don't have a physical quirk..."

"You drink hot beverages to increase your mental capacity?"

Saiko slowly nodded her head her blush growing more. "You are quite observant…"

"He's unmatched when it comes to quirk analysis," Momo explained, leaning against him a little more. "But, where did you get the idea that she's smarter? It could be a lot of different things."

"Her eyes… they're like yours: intelligent and cunning, even a bit prideful of that," he mumbled. "Plus, they were twitching extremely fast when you first got here, now they're slowing down."

Saiko looked down with her face getting even more flustered, Momo's face growing red too. "I- I didn't even know they did that"

"You would need more processing power to even keep up with that amount of data…" He shook his head, getting out of his trance. "S-sorry I kinda… zoned out thinking about quirks…"

"I-it's really no problem… it was interesting to hear," Saiko mumbled, slowly slinking away as the rest of 1-B showed up.

* * *

**_God-DAMMIT!_ **Endeavor fumed, the flames framing her eyes flaring up in her anger. _6th place!?_

The railing she was holding onto started glowing dimly, the metal starting to anneal and collapse like playdough under the intense heat and pressure she was exerting on it.

Her eyes were glued onto the back of her daughter, burning holes through it. _You brought shame to the Todoroki name, over this… Rebellious streak?_

_When will you just grow up Shoko?_

Her eyes then drifted off to the man in the top three. _You…_

Suddenly the flames on her face decreased in size, and her white-knuckled grip on the railing diminished, revealing the indents of her palms to the air.

_You just might help her grow up._

* * *

" OK FOLKS, THE IMAGE IS IN! " Mic's voice echoed, causing everyone to look up into the projection in the middle of the stadium with bated breath. The image flickered and cleared up, showing the exact moment Izuku, Momo and Ochako passed the finish line.

Izuku looked at the picture with scrutiny, looking at the lines that was supposed to indicate their rankings, weirdly there was only two on the screen. Then he looked down to the tangents of the line, who connected to which. His fingertips, extended during his last reach out, were on the first line; barely ahead of both Ochako's and Momo's that were on the second one.

* * *

Toshiko flinched as Inko's hand landed on her own, gripping it tightly as the image flicked on. "Did- did he...?"

" Izuku Midoriya is the first one to pass the finish line! Second place is shared by Ochako Uraraka and Momo Yaoyorozu! " Mic revealed "IT'S A FIRST IN UA HISTORY, FOLKS: A MALE COMES FIRST IN AN EVENT FROM THE SPORTS FESTIVAL"

Toshiko felt pride bubble up hearing the news, gripping Inko's hand back. "Your son did it."

Inko was brimming with tears, looking at his expression on the screen, clearly pushing himself to the limit, body ragged.

But that smile was undeniable.

He was happy.

Her eyes drifted back to the cause of it all, the one that finally gave him the kindling he needed to re-light his burning determination. "He couldn't have done it without you, Yagi-san."

All might flinched for another second, drinking up the expression on the mother's face. "That was all him, I didn't do much."

Inko laughed shaking her head slightly. "You did more than you could ever imagine."

* * *

He would have gotten bothered with getting called a 'male' all the time, but at that moment he was busy trying to not burst into tears of joy. His eyes drifted off to Momo who he was still holding up, and Ochako to her other side, who were looking at each other.

"We-" Momo started.

"Tied for second." Ochako finished. Her voice cracking at the end, some of her Kansai dialect starting to slip through, her voice sounding more melodic to the ones that were listening.

They both stared for a second longer before starting to laugh. "I was certain you passed me for a second there, Ochako!"

"You kiddin' me? I thought y'all left me in the dust!" Ochako shot back, accent strong in her voice still, and the smile on her face too bright for either to look directly without blushing.

Izuku couldn't help it and reached over Momo, patting Ochako's head causing her to mewl softly and lean into it. "You didn't let us do that, did you?"

"I s'pose not."

Mei smiled warmly before latching onto Izuku. "What, no love for the 3rd place?"

The four started laughing a little harder.

"It's like they are mocking us..." Mina huffed pouting the best she could while trying to catch her breath, looking at the four clearly showing some public displays of affection. _It's kinda sucky; I ended up coming 20th place..._

"I mean, after the shit they pulled, I can't blame them for celebrating." Kyoka panted to her side. _22… damn._

* * *

Midnight let the contestants mutter a bit longer, looking onto the hug-pile that was forming around Izuku. Trying her best to not join them. _He is insane, managing to come on top of it all without a quirk… Just how much will do you have in there?_

" Ok, OK! " She huffed into the mic, causing the first years to grow silent. " The top 40 makes it to the next trial, the rest, don't worry, we have other ways for you to show your stuff! "

Minerva, number 41 suddenly deflated

She cracked her whip, hyping up slightly. " AND NOW, THE SELECTION FOR THE SECOND EVENT! " She paused, licking her lips for effect. "The press is gonna be _All, over, you, _so! Give it all you got!"

The randomizer started spinning behind her again. Crawling to a stop, it almost seemed like it would land on cavalry battle but the last of the momentum pushed it to...

" Paintball-match. " Midnight smirked. " Participants will, on their own, form teams of two. The rules are simple. You get shot, your points are deducted from your team, you shoot a team, and their points are added to yours! "

"Points? Do we start with a given amount?" Tooru mumbled, coming out of her slight bout of depression from the fact that she came in 39th and the following rush of relief that was barely above the cut-off.

Izuku shuddered as the foreign thoughts started talking again. _I really accepted this too easily._

_"Th͖̃at'̤̌s ̱̆ġ͟o̳͗o̗̎d anḍ͝ ̼͆al͠ͅl̆͢, b̝̔u͔̐t̟̏…"_

_What?_

_"S̖͘he̘ said ̹͑top̯̑ 4̯̅0, ̯̃rḭ͆g̙͊h̓͜ṫ͈?"_

_Yea- oh, oh no no no they can't!_

_"M̮̔aybe ̙̍o̠͐ne̲̎ ̜͊ţȅ̗am ͔̓w̜͛ill ̟͗j̼̋u̯͡s̠̏t͓ ̲̏ha̼̋v̜͐e one m̡͡or͇͘e m̺̆em̰̎b̢͠eȓ̩ th͓̽a̻͊ṉ̆ n̗͝or̲̐m͚̂al?"_

" The points start at five at the bottom of the rankings! So five for the 40th and ten for the 39th! And so forth! But, " she paused for suspense, licking her lips again " our first place participant is worth t- "

The loud static crackle of the screen behind her cut her off, the face of Nozomi popping up on it " Zero points! "

Izuku felt the world stop for a second.

Midnight flinched at the sudden intrusion to her announcement but played along. " Thanks, principal Nozomi, yes, zero points! The first place must crawl his way back to the top to continue competing! "

_"O̳͊ḳ̛,̳͐ o̮̊k, ̥̑m͙̊ayb́͜e̛͇ thats͍̄ ̨̍th̼̒e ̲͌oṋ̍l̩̍y-̘͆ ̙̌"_

_Don't even finish that sentence!_

" And considering we have an odd number of participants due to the tied second place… the first place will be forced to be a one-man team. " Midnight's sadistic side came about as a blush formed on her face. But her eyes told a different story, an apologetic tinge mixed in as they gazed at the man in question.

_"G͇̑od̘͡-̣͑"_

_Dammit!_

* * *

Aizawa clicked the mic off for the both of them, cupping her face with her hands as she sighed. "What the fuck is Nozomi doing?"

"Pushing him against the wall again looks like." Mic muttered, a pout in her voice. "Why go through all this trouble, though?"

"Wha- no that's not pushing him against the wall." Aizawa mumbled. "Making him a big target would be pushing him against the wall with the ten million points we always go for." she gestured at the intimidating aura flowing off of Izuku as the other participants started to group up

"This, this is putting the other students onto the chopping block."

"You are exaggerating…" Then Hikari remembered just _who _she was talking to. "Oh… Oh, God..."

* * *

Miruko was excited, to say the least. _The kid had the balls to do the stuff he did, and now is the only one __not __in a team?_

_And still looks like he is ready to take every single weakling out?_

"This is gonna be **fun,**" she grinned, getting excited for what was soon to follow.

* * *

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET!" Mt. Lady laughed at the screen in the break-room as it was announced Izuku was set to start off with zero points and no team members.

"C'mon, Yu, give the boy some slack," hissed Kamui Woods. "he has it hard enough already."

"NOT HARD ENOUGH!" Yu snapped back indignantly, then settled down after a huff. "This is weird, though… UA has always been about freedom in education, but isn't this overstepping it?" She shrugged and leaned back. "My sports festival didn't have this much bullshit…"

"Your sports festival didn't have a man in it. It's usually an analogy for the dog-eat-dog world of pro heroes, where the teams you make are important." Death Arms huffed.

"Yeah, give and take all that, I _know _. Why isn't _he _getting taught _that? _" Mt. Lady groaned. This was sounding too close to the lectures she had to take.

"Cause, as they all said, he needs to prove himself." Death Arms shrugged simply. "He needs to show that, under no circumstances, he would become a liability. Not having a quirk is already strike one."

"Yeah, all of that sounds nice and all, but," Kamui woods butted in, "pretty sure it's just Nozomi playing around with her new 'toy.'"

"Oh, God, stop. You are going to remind me what she pulled in my year." Mt. Lady shook her hands and head, as if trying to physically keep a memory from resurfacing.

Death Arms sweatdropped. _...what did she do though?_

* * *

He stopped and watched everyone start to group up, the three near him wishing him luck before going out to find partners for themselves.

No one was actually paying attention to him as of this moment.

_Are you someone's quirk?_

_"Who͓͌, ̮̆me?"_

_Yeah?_

The voice paused for a second, and he could feel it thinking, not the usual sensing of other people deep in their own thoughts.

He could feel his own brain doing the thinking.

_What the hell...?_

_"Whä́͜t?"_

_You- you are using my brain?_

_"Ö͉h̫̉."_

_...Ok, ok I think- I think I know what you are- quick question. When did you come about?_

_"A̝s î͔n w͇̿ḣ̳en ͇̎I b̭̊eca̤m̨͝e ̟̍á̫ware?"_

_Yeah?_

_"Nő͎t͇́…̬̋ ͔̈sur͜͠e ̈͢I̝͝ ͙̅ṯ͝hink I͙̋ ̎ͅbec͍͑ä̰́m͈̈e ̧̓'aw̦̃ȃ̻re'̞͊ a w̘͠e͇͠e͚̍k̪͝ ̤͞ạ̈́gö̝́…"_

He blinked. _Wait- 2 weeks ago? You aren't One for All?_

_"I ̭̓v̿͟a̭̒guely ré̘me̳͡mb̥͛er̡͛ so̗̚ḿ̺e̳͠t̯̂hing ͘ͅa̪͐bout ̧̿tḧ͈́a̰̅t͖͞ b͖͒u͖͂t̤̑…̙̇ Ỉ̘ ̗͞dǫ̂n͖̏'t ͔͆th̨̆i͊͢n̢͝k s̤̐o̲͠?̠͡"_

_Then… a week ago…_

He wanted to shake his head at the revelation. _I heard the small voice of your consciousness but-_

_That sounding like someone else? On separate thought patter-_

_"Ö͖h- y̪͠ou ̪͞f̱ē͕el li̟̋ḱ̠ē̩ ͈̾yŏ̜u got̖̏ t̩̓he ̈͢ans̫̈w̯ë̫r."_

_You… you are the healed part of my brain, modified by One for All, a separate consciousness born from the inherent wills and remaining thoughts of my predecessors._

_"..̥͠.Look,̺̃ ̮́I b͓͘ec̟͞am̮͂ě͇ ͙a͇͘ ͘͟tḣ̙ing j̘͐ųst a̩͂ week ͙̋a͢͞go a̹̽nd͕̚ ̫̓thả͜t͖͌ ͘͟s̖̈ou͚̿nd̏͢s̖͞ ̠̓l̦͞i͛ͅk͔̑e̞̅ ͒͜b̡͐ul̜̀l̥̂sh̼̃ĩ̦t̼̍ ͂ͅê̩ven̺̑ to̜͂ ͉͒m̛̦e̗̎."_

_You got a better explanation?_

_"I̗͐'̣̅m ̗̅y̙͗ò̙ur̜̓ al̩͞t͔́er e̠͑g̘̔ó͙ f̓͢orm͖è̩d͌͟ ̱̂fr̦̚om yo̹͞ur͔̈́ braĩ̧n͢ d̩̎ạ̇m͔͂ag̮̚e."_

_...Plausible. But quick question, what do you think of All Might?_

_"T͚̕oshi̻͒? I͕̚'͈̆m ̰͐g͎͒l̝͞a̕͢d̼͘ she m̟̚a̰͝nage̽ͅd̥̃ ̠͑to̢͡ b̳̃ę̅com̮͠e t̜̃he̜̽ s̗y̪m̹bo̹l of pe̹a̼c͍e̹ ̟w̳e ne̘eͅd͜e͢d. ̳I͎'͉m̡ ̠pr̤o̼uḑ o͙f hẹr̦.͟"_

He waited for the voice to think through what it just said.

_"Oh ̨sh̖i̠t̢,̤ ̦I ̹ _a̹m _͍t̝h͍e̳ will̠s͔ ̦o̧f̤ ̝the ̭pas̼t̻ u̠ser̪s͚ are̮n̞'t̼ I̫?"_

_I mean- it's either that or I just won an argument with my alter ego who just pulled some memories from the connection One for All created._

It was, a weird sensation, having someone start to form inside of his brain. He could feel the neural pathways forming the other grow stronger with each time he made them think, just as the connection to him grow stronger with each back and forth between them, even the voices that formed _her..? _Started to sound more unified, forming one ethereal feminine voice.

_Wait, do you remember what you did before my speech?_

_"R̜e̻li̬evin̼g s̼ome͈ o̫f̠ ̹you̲r̙ ̢an͍x͖ie͈ty̫?͍"_

_Yeah, how did you do that anyway?_

_"J̯ust͔ ͎shut̜ ̭d͉o̙wn̬ som̼e p̨a̖rts of your a̭m̘yg͟da̹l͈a̺,. ͅTḩe̘y͟ ̯we͜r͜e s̯c̱r̻ẹam̼ing̼ nͅoṉse̺ns̘e͔"_

_So you can shut down some parts of my brain, what my subconscious would usually do...Hey, do you know the concept of 'flow?'_

He felt the voice reach through their connection, pulling the definition up from his own memory.

_"T̤he̢ ͙bͅr̝a̻i͍n s̼huts d̯own noṇ-ess̱e̬nͅt̩i̱a͇l͙ func͙t͎io͜ns̜ to̞ ̘i͍nc͙rͅea̺s̮e p͚r̤o̟c̘es̜s̳ing̺ ̱s͇pe͎ed ̢i̞n timeș of n̬eed̞…"_

He could feel the voice start to chuckle, they were really becoming more and more concrete, rather than an abstract concept.

_"O͎h ͔y͔o̰u ̦a̞re͍ g̡ood̤.̝"_

He smiled slightly, before dropping the convo as he heard Midnight announce the end of the 15 minutes to prepare.

He had used them well.

"Ready to show us why your choice was correct, Midoriya?" She asked, trying to get him fired up, under the guise of teasing him.

_"...W͓e͟ll̲,̥ k̩id,̥ a̘rͅe ͖y̺o̜u?"_

He opened his mouth, as if to say something back, then clamped it shut, a feral smile forming on his face as the flame in him burned brighter. _Fine. if things are going to be that way…_

He glanced at the rest of the participants, 1-A looking back with part fear and part worry.

Katsumi started laughing when she saw his eyes. _Oh, oh we are __so_ _Fucked. _Her partner, Eiko forced a peal of soft, worried laughter. "W-what are we laughing about?" She whispered under her breath.

Izuku's eyes locked back up to the podium. "Bring it."


	34. Those who rush stumble and fall

" Ok, I will explain the rules in detail, so listen up! " Midnight smirked. " Each team gets their choice of two weapons and support items, along with visors to protect their eyes, and a chest plate with the amount of points they have which is averaged every other second. " She gestured at the hologram showcasing a black chest-plate with LED's incorporated under a layer of plastic polymer encompassing the front if the flashing lights were accurate. " Each pellet has a point value encoded by the gun they are shot out of, **while **they are getting shot out of it, and whenever a shot makes contact, the suit gives a little _shock _the shot party, the size in direct relationship to the number of points they were shot with. The amount of points the pellet has is removed from the shot party is then added to the one shooting them. Quirks are, of course, allowed. " She relaxed a bit as the explanation was over. " Any questions? "

Izuku paused for a second. Then raised his arm, grabbing attention from the rest of the participants. "Can you repeat the first sentence?"

She blinked once, then her smirk turned sadistic. " Each _team _gets their choice of two weapons and support items. "

Mic shuddered in the observation deck. _Oh- that's what Aizawa was talking about…_

* * *

He looked at the selection of paintball guns, which to his surprise there was a wide variety of. _You wouldn't know how to handle one of these things professionally, would you?_

_"No̖pe."_

_Trial-by-fire, then._

_"Th͙a͎t's ̬t̪h̜e̝ ṱhe̜m̻e̼ ͉of ̗to̥d̦ay̮ ͟is͇n̰'̣t͓ ͍it?"_

He looked over the selection again. A minigun looked appealing but would eat through ammo reserves too fast for it to be useful, a pistol would have come in handy in short to mid-range, but the number of points it transferred would make it hard for him to catch up.

_"M̻a̼y͍b̫e̢ ṯh̝e ̠sniper͖ riͅfl̪ȩ?̮"_

_Wouldn't that take too long to set up?_

_"N̗ot i̪f̹ ̙y̝ou ͙only add̟ ̧t̟h̫e̱ bar̢r̯el͙ w͉he̜n̪ yoṳ ̼n̟eed̞ ̘iṭ. ͅt̜he̗y ͜a̢r͕e͢ ͇c͔a̦lle͍d ̫'sn͖i̹p̫e̺r̝ **r͇i̢fl̼e͚s**'̺ ̤f̣o̧r͇ ̟a͙ ̨r̟ea̡so͚n,̢ ͟kͅid͔. __"_

_Huh… wait you said you didn't know much about them!_

_"N͍o͜,̖ ͍I̡ ̙sai̫d͍ I ̦d͉i̖d͙n͈'̣t handḻe them̞ ̭**p̧r̗of̧essio̟na̯ḷl͉y**. At̞ l̳east͚, I͟ t̹hi̱ṋk n̲o͇t͉-͜ ̣my ͍m͜ȩmor͇y̢ i͜s͍ kin̥da s͍c̫rewy͔.̤ __"_

He hefted the sniper off the wall. _Semantics!_

_"Y͖ou'r͙e͎ on̪e to͚ ta͇l̮k̪- a̰n̩d̼ pic̫k͍ ͍t͕h̺e̫ r̲e̗v̰olvęr,͙ ͜I̪t'lļ ̭be̙ a ̡good͖ shor͢t̫-ra̳ng͚e̞ ̨s͇i͔de-a̮rm."_

_Yeah, yeah. _He picked up the revolver, spinning its cylinder hearing it click satisfyingly, then turned to Snipe, who was manning the gun booth. "I picked these two."

Snipe whistled under her mask. "The Big Iron? Nice choice, pardner." She leaned in a bit. "But I don't reckon you can grab two."

"Each team gets to have two, right?"

Snipe paused, then started laughing. "Always bending the rules, ain't ya?"

"Someone has to." He shrugged with a smirk.

Snipe shook her head, pulling out a couple of magazines for the sniper and a speed loader for the revolver with additional pellets in a small canister, along with a hip holster for the revolver. "Good luck out there."

"Thanks, gonna need it." He waved a quick goodbye, before turning to the next door for the support items, his 15 minutes to make selections were getting close to being over.

Ectoplasm greeted him as he arrived at the support item room and quickly went to selecting. He looked over at walls lined with grenades, mines, IEDs and riot shields. There were even some smoke grenades littered here and there. _You thinking what I'm thinking?_

_"N̢o̭t…͇ re̱ḁl̬ly͍, ̺bu̪t I̱ can ̣feel what y̯oͅu ar͍e̟ thi͕n̨kin̬g.̱"_

_Close enough._

He walked up to Ectoplasm with his selection, earning a representation of a quirked eyebrow on the dome of glass that formed the top of her head. The skeletal smile her exposed teeth formed never leaving her face. "...Why does that fit your character so well?"

He could only chuckle as she passed him the goggles and the chest piece for the match, and something else.

"_T͢hḙ h̠ell͉ i̝s̪ that?̥_ _"_

_A cup..._

_"W̻h̰at ̡f͔o̜-̱ ̤o̬h͖hh̙h̹.̢..͓"_

* * *

" While we wait for our contestants, let us hear a word from our sponsors. " Mic announced, as the holograms coating the stadium shifted through multiple advertisements.

Midnight fixed her footing.

She absolutely hated this part.

The grassy ground hissed and pulled back a little, revealing seams that were not visible to the naked eye, then started shifting, stacking on top of each other as the podium and the cement mass it was connected to started to rise up, eventually replacing the area previously covered in grass and sand, Cementos walking up to the field.

" And here she is, listeners! Cementos, if you would, " Mic hyped up, just as the ads ended.

The concrete woman nodded, planted her feet down then raised her hands with what looked like effort.

The cement rippled, looking like a still body of water with a pebble tossed in, and grew more and more animated, waves cascading through the area and crashing onto the sides of the stadium, each wave leaving around traces of shifted material.

She pulled her hands back down while raising her leg, then with a final grunt, slammed it down.

The waves ceased, replaced by the cracking sound of cement grinding against cement as parts shot up in geometric shapes, forming a complex maze of corridors, stairs, and hallways.

" And, to keep the players from hearing our live commentary, let's give them something else to listen to? Shall we? " Mic smirked as she flipped one of the switches on her console.

" Classical music? Seriously? " Aizawa deadpanned, hearing some songs that were surely from the 21st-century _minimum._

* * *

Izuku fiddled with his rifle, unscrewing the barrel and stuffing it in one of the straps of his chest guard next to the extra ammo already clipped in, the number 0 glowing dimly on the center of his chest.

_"Y̘ou pͅro͚bḁb͈l͉y l̻o͢ok ̗like y̰o̟u̹ j͇u̯mped̝ o̺ṳt of̩ a̖n acti͙o̪n ͈m̙o͍v͉i͙e͇."_

_I feel like I am about to jump in one. _He hooked one of the black riot shields on his back, the other along his forearm like one would hold a medieval shield, hiding the rifle he was holding in his hand.

_"Want me to s̙ta̝ṛṭ silenc̢i̢ng ̱th̭e̜ ̗no̩ise͉m̢a͇kers̡ ̹in her̳e?"͎_

_Yeah, let's see if this actually works the way we theorized._

He expected a lot of things to happen the moment the voice stated silencing the parts of his brain that was firing information he couldn't use in that exact moment.

Having his vision get slightly altered was not one of them.

He blinked repeatedly trying to come to terms with how much more detail he was seeing, and how much the gun weighed on his hand. As the sensation burned into his memory the feeling subsided, leading him to not even feel the weight of the stuff strapped onto him.

_"Yo̭u̺ a̦lr͟i̝g̰ht k̳i̳d͟?"̘_

He blinked again, then nodded not even thinking up a proper reply. Another blink.

_Can you control my left arm?_

_"Uh̙- lem͉m͢e̙ try..̦."_

The foreign sensation didn't even bother him as his left arm started twitching on its own accord while he still felt every single tensing of his muscles.

_"Gu̖e̹s̞s̪ ̡I̖ ca̦n̮."_

_Good, If I miss anyone that's growing too close, grab the revolver and take them out._

He regained control of the limb without much resistance from the voice, he was the stronger presence in his body, that was good to know.

A low trickle of adrenaline started to steep into his bloodstream as the state of 'flow' started to hit full force, mind clearing even further. He wasn't sure if the voice was silent or if the state of flow was forcing it to grow silent.

Didn't matter.

Time slowed down as the gates in front of him started to open up, flooding his prep room with the music from the field.

He was already out of the gates before the gate finished opening.

* * *

" Listeners! We have a guest at the booth. C'mon, introduce yourself, " Mic announced as the alarm went off, 21 teams releasing from the sides of the arena.

" G'day, this is Pro hero Snipe, swinging by to give some insight on this here match. " Snipe said, tipping her hat while doing so.

Mic chuckled at the gesture. " Glad to have you with us Snipe, anything you wanna tell the viewers before the match really starts? "

" Mic, what are you talking about? " Snipe looked offended.

" The match already started. "

As if to support her claim, the rankings projected on the holographic billboards started to shift, teams jumping up and down wildly.

All except Izuku who remained on the bottom.

* * *

"Are we seriously gonna just hunker down for this long?" Kyoka asked from within the ice dome Shoko had created. "I thought you were going to hunt down people. Isn't that why you picked me? Cause of my quirk?"

"Yeah, I did," Shoko breathed out, "but not to hunt down; to hear if Bakugou or someone else tries to break in."

"You know this plan worked out _great _for you last time, right?" Kyoka shot back. Shoko stiffened.

"..._ Fine _" She put her hand on the side of the dome, melting a way out leading to the maze. "Let's go."

"After you."

* * *

Pony peeked around the corner as her teammate, Intelli, was taking a slow sip of tea.

After doing another once over of the hallway leading to them, Pony breathed out in relief, no one was on them at the moment. "You said you knew him from somewhere, right?" she asked in English, the language she was more comfortable with speaking.

"Midoriya, you mean?" Saiko responded in English with a soft nod, going through possibilities at the back of her head. "Yeah, he rushed in to save that blonde girl… Kind of inspired me to try my hand at training my body." She smiled softly, "I never thought I could keep up with someone with a physical quirk. I always assumed that brawn would beat the brain in this field but… that day he showed me neither mattered, only heart."

Pony smiled. "Yeah! The heart of a hero!" she cheered, jumping up and down.

"Quite." She nodded with a soft smile, "I went above and beyond... trained myself past the limit to try and see if I could chase my dream, and it turns out, I could." She traced the lid of her thermos gently. "All because he jumped in and showed me what a true hero is. Just another person with the will to help."

"Mhm!" Pony nodded. "Does that mean…?"

"I will thank him later, but we should move now," she mumbled, getting off of her seat and dusting herself off with a glint in her eyes. "The formula is ready to be solved."

* * *

Izuku _observed._

It had been easy enough to jump from wall to wall and scale his way up to a high point on the field. And he watched the gunfights forming across the expanse, some crossfire hitting him and giving him a dull buzz across the chest.

Not that it mattered anyway, he couldn't go lower than zero points, so the jolt didn't mean much.

Not as much as the intel he was gathering.

He started backhanding the pellets with the shield on his arm, just to get some practice in.

* * *

" Oh wow, would you look at that, it's a shootout. Riveting. " Aizawa groaned, looking down on the maze with distaste, watching the students run around like headless chickens from each other while spraying bullets everywhere.

" At this rate, everyone is going to run out before the timer hits the halfway point. " Mic added along, sounding miffed slightly, the little long-distance skirmishes weren't actually entertaining.

Snipe was polishing her revolver. " Well, it's to be expected. We haven't really taught them how to use the darn things yet " She swung her special-built weapon, the cylinder clicking into place with a satisfying clack. " For those who are watching, sorry y'all for the mess. Let's let these fledglings learn how to use their new fangs first, shall we?"

She pointed at the window of the booth, pulling the trigger of the revolver, causing its hammer to clack against it's empty chamber. "But knowing UA kids, they'll catch up fast."

As if signified by the clacking of the hammer the shooting slowed down, students starting to conserve ammo.

" Heh, guess this old gal still has her wits to her, " Snipe chuckled, readjusting her hat with her revolver.

Mic had a goofy smile, just watching her act out the whole cowboy persona.

* * *

_How the hell am I even supposed to use this? _Ochako groaned in her head, as she ducked behind a wall. Furrowing her brows, she glared at the pistol she had taken; the recoil was minimal, but since she couldn't hold the damn thing with all five of her fingers her aim was _terrible, _making her lean on Tsuyu for gaining points.

_Why couldn't I have a quirk that was thought activated…_

She looked down on the pads of her hand. _Traitors… _

Then back at the gun.

_...wait what _**_would_ **_happen if I activated my quirk on this anyway?_

She cupped her hand under her chin deep in thought, trying to solve the riddle.

"Doesn't hurt to try I guess?" she closed her pinky around the gun too and felt the familiar sensation of her quirk activating. The gun lightening to nothing in her hands.

"So far so good…" she pulled the trigger, aiming at the wall in front of her.

She didn't even see the pellet leave the barrel before splattering onto the wall, faster than any of the bullets she had seen whizzing by.

"That's… wow" She pulled the trigger again just to be sure.

The mark on the wall grew larger faster than a blink, not even a feathers touch of recoil on her side.

Tsuyu, sporting some new splashes of colors hopped next to her. "We gotta move they, ar-"

Ochako turned the corner before Asui even finished her sentence, trying out the new application of her quirk.

The opposing team didn't even stand a chance against the high-speed bullets as they splattered against their chests the moment Ochako pulled the trigger to her gun.

"Oh- Oh never mind, I _like _this!"

* * *

Katsumi hated that there wasn't a grenade launcher amongst the guns, and hated that she could only get two grenades in the support section. _Still, this works._

She pumped the shotgun, relishing at the sight of the blonde asshole that was smack-talking her and the rest of 1-A twitching from the shock her chest-plate had _gifted _her after a point-blank shot over the stomach.

_Upstart class B bitch._

She looked down to the weapon, her smirk returning. _Now I know why High-class likes these things._

Eiko shivered slightly and averted her eyes. _That's a dangerous look on Baku right there. _Then she squinted seeing something green on the tower nearby.

_Wait… _"Is that Midori on that tower?"

Katsumi stopped for a second, then followed her gaze. _Oh no… _"Move- _WE GOTTA MOVE! _" She pushed her into another alley.

"Why!?"

"He saw all of it! Everything everyone did!" she glanced back at where he was. "It's Deku, shit hair! What does he do best?"

"...fight?" Eiko then winced at Katsumi's unbelieving look. "Wait, no- plan... He fights good cause he plans…"

The pieces connected. "Oh. Oh no…"

* * *

Momo let her minigun down, shaking her arms to get the numbness off of them. _It's as heavy as it looks…_

Mina was standing guard next to her with her own submachine gun ready to fire at a moments notice. "Why did you even pick that one?"

"Ammo is no problem cause I can create it." She breathed out, taking a seat on the floor. "Plus, it's fun to see people panic when the barrels start to spin."

"Wow… really makes me wonder what you do between the sheets with Izuku…" Mina mumbled, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"I-I have no idea what you are talking about!" Momo blushed, shrinking into herself defensively upon the implied accusation.

"_ Sure, _Vice rep." Mina let her smirk through, enjoying how similar Momo's cheeks were getting to her skin's hue. "You sneak into his room every night and do _nothing."_

"We don't!"

* * *

" As the first half of the match ends, Midoriya Izuku remains at zero points, with other teams joining him on the lowest of the rankings, " Mic announced, sounding bored. " So much for showing us why his choice was the right one… "

The audience echoed her disillusionment at the current state of the match

"Why _isn't _he moving?" one of the audience whined as the attention was pulled back onto the sole male on the field.

"Maybe he's scared? He's the only one out there without a quirk," rationalized someone else, unsure of their own claim.

"It's impressive as hell that he got first in the race without one, though. Maybe he's fit enough to do this without one, too..."

"Yeah, _right _. Being a hunk isn't going to stop a villain from blowing his head clean off. He should quit while he still _has _a head."

"Didn't he say something about breaking his neck?"

"Well, Recovery Girl could've healed him, too. 'Backbone of UA' and all..."

Some scoffed at that "Yeah, _sure _and I'm All Might's secret lover. _Maybe _he was exaggerating? Even more proof to why he shouldn't even be there."

Miruko's ears twitched at the ceaseless bashing, getting more and more annoyed until she couldn't hide her anger anymore. She stamped her foot down to the ground, the force behind it cracking the cement slightly. "GOD DAMMIT, KID, STOP BLUE-BALLING US! I _KNOW _YOU GOT MORE IN YOU!"

"Woah talk about passiona-" the fellow audience member fell silent as the intense glare originating from the rabbit hero locked onto her.

* * *

He blinked. Time had lost its meaning for him as his perception of it swayed and shifted while he watched, seeing every shot fired clearly while everything between blurred past. Now, time, at least his perception of it, felt stable.

He looked at the timer, then back at the maze, already picking a path and just who to take out.

With just enough time left.

He jumped down from the tower, landing on a nearby wall with precise footing. The students to the left of it not even having the chance to react as two shots impacted the back of their heads from the hidden rifle under his shield.

"Oh." Mic gulped. "Ok..."

Snipe leaned in and switched the music to something more fitting .

"HEY!" Mic exclaimed, but didn't change it back.

* * *

He scaled down to the side and grabbed the students support gear, a grenade, and an IED trigger.

He knew where that IED was hidden and pressed the detonator after a few seconds, looking down to see if his points changed while doing so.

They did.

He tossed the detonator to the side, raising his rifle to the corner in front of him.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Doi screamed, jumping out into the corridor. Her teammate, Hana, had been taken out by the paint-bomb Izuku had just set off.

She was met by a shot to the chest by the rifle. Izuku showing no remorse while doing it.

She collapsed onto the ground, her resistance to electricity born from her quirk was keeping her conscious. But she was not ready to see Izuku start walking up to her at a steady pace. Eyes glaring down into her soul with their intensity. "I-Izuku, c-c'mon man, it's just a game."

Her heart started beating faster as he didn't even slow down at her plea and flinched once he was within arms reach of her, closing her eyes as his right arm rose level with her head, rifle pointing straight to her forehead.

She shuddered once as a shot rang out, followed by another.

Then, after deliberation and _not _feeling a shock nor impact, she opened her eyes to see two more of the class B students, one with the softening quirk and the other with the poltergeist, spasming on the floor. Then she saw Izuku, holding a revolver in his left hand, under his right arm, hidden from the would-be ambushers by the shield attached to it.

"W-wanna go to a date after this?" Doi asked, honestly a little turned on by the whole stoic-badass stuff he was pulling.

Two shots to the chest with the rifle was enough of an answer.

* * *

Miruko's face tore open in a shit-eating grin, watching the man start taking out weaklings like they were _ nothing _.

The crowd around her got shocked silent as the man they had been second-guessing took down two teams with the efficiency of a _machine _.

Snipe whistled in the booth. " That kid is _ruthless _. "

" Yeah, but it could have been worse. " Mic shrugged, expecting more considering how Aizawa had opposed the idea in the beginning.

Aizawa turned to Mic with a glare. _Do you, perchance, not hear what you are saying?_

* * *

He breathed out as Doi lost her fight against the current, getting knocked out, too. The revolver was quickly reloaded and stuffed it back onto its holster.

Breathe in, and out.

In. Out.

It's time to go full blast.

The trickle of adrenaline turned to a torrent as his heart rate increased, he hopped side to side, relaxing his body. Then, much like the pellets he had been spraying since he jumped down, he rushed away.

* * *

"You had to say it, didn't you?" Aizawa huffed as suddenly Izuku took off to the side of the shot, the feed broadcasting empty ground for a second before the drone started to chase after him.

Mic nodded sagely. "Mistakes were made."

* * *

Kendo didn't even have time to react as one moment she was in a firefight with Makaira and Aoyama of all people, and the next moment the hole Aoyama had created, and their team had been shooting out of, was covered by a flung riot shield embedding itself to one of its sides.

Izuku followed soon after, skidding to a halt and emptying a revolver into her and Yui, causing both to succumb to paralysis. As the world faded she saw him unpin a grenade and toss it over the wall to where the other team was.

Based on the yelp she heard, the other team was taken out too.

* * *

Makaira was barely able to use the shield she had attached to her tail, blocking the spray of paint that had coated the walls of the corridor they were in. Yui had not been as lucky, the girl of French descent getting coated in the deep crimson of the paint the grenade had shot out everywhere, before starting to twitch uncontrollably following the electric shock the chest piece provided, falling to the ground unconscious.

She breathed to steady herself, looking at the riot shield blocking the hole.

_If the person that tossed it is still there… I can take them by surprise. Take the points back._

She steadied her rifle, reloading it and moving closer to the shield. _Three…_

_Two…_

_One!_

She kicked the shield with enough force to dislodge it from its rooted position, the rifle aiming out of the reopened hole.

* * *

Izuku had reloaded and was looting ammo off of the unconscious body of Kendo when the sound of crumbling cement alerted him, his brain dropping even more processes as his perception of time started to dilate from the additional power it had gained access to.

He needed every second he could get when he had a rifle pointed to his back.

Makaira pulled the trigger on her weapon spraying a volley of paintballs towards his general area, not even taking in the surroundings.

Izuku pivoted on his right leg, shield on his arm blocking the pellets during the motion, then much like Snipe would, his left hand grabbed onto the revolver on his hip.

As his classmate with the tail realized who she was shooting at with a muted 'oh, shit' along with a flinch, he pulled the trigger with deadly accuracy. The pellet hit her right on the goggles, blinding her momentarily, along with a strong zap that almost took her down.

But not quite.

She raised her own shield where she thought Izuku was, trying to wipe the paint off the goggles on her eyes.

That's when she felt the muzzle of his rifle against her head

"Truce?"

* * *

Kayama was… a lot of things. Her persona of a hero with a sadistic side, Midnight, was just that, an alter ego; at least she told herself that. But watching Izuku tear through the opposition was making her...

_Question _that.

_I probably shouldn't be enjoying this that much… _she winced softly as the live feed showed the rifle go off against Ojirou's temple, probably stinging a lot before the zap carried by the vest pulled her to unconsciousness.

Then she noticed his path.

_Wait a minute… he's doing a bee-line to…_

She couldn't help but smirk a bit

_That's certainly one way to win._

* * *

Ibara had started remembering as time went on and she saw more of him. Her memory was hazy at best, but she remembered his silhouette, bathed in light, holding her close at one point.

_Maybe that's why I keep recalling Michael when I think of him… _

Her eye caught the rankings list from her perch.

_Wow… he is rising fast…_

_And he did come first in the race…_

_Maybe he is a divine being after all…_

She shook her head, _No… that's blasphemous to even think of..._

_What next, him having divine power gifted from god?_

"Hey Ibara, keep your focus. We have more coming after us!"

A loud crack rippled through the air, as the faux gun discharged itself.

"Sorry, it's hard to focus with him so close- I feel like there's more to him..." she admitted, chambering a new cartridge.

"Wow, I didn't think you were the type to show interest in guys like that." Her classmate smiled, showing off her sharp teeth "He is somethin' else, right?"

"I am not someone who will fall to sin, Tetsu. But we should do well to steer clear of him."

Tetsutetsu nodded, shifting the shotgun in her arms to splatter anyone who came near. Her quirk was counterproductive to the exercise, so she was picking off anyone who made it through Ibara's prickly defense.

The vine-haired woman herself looked down the scope of her rifle, setting up another shot to the best of her abilities. She didn't like the thought of having to shoot opponents, but given the activity...

She pulled the trigger.

_So be it._

* * *

Setsuna and Hiryu were at the top of the list; nothing quite came close to Setsuna's ability to disassemble and let the pellets just pass through where she had occupied, nor Hiryu's scales shooting down any and all approaching projectiles.

Setsuna's pickpocketing and her floating hands shooting others at point-blank range just gave them the edge they needed to rise up to the top of the leaderboard.

Then, _he _happened.

A shot rang out from the side, jolting both class B-students out of their previous thoughts. _Who the hell?_

It was the guy from 1-A.

"What? You think you can take us down? Just cause you won the race?" Setsuna taunted, trying to get under his skin, to make him give them an opening, like so many had. But he didn't even look like he cared enough to listen to her words.

"What? Cat got your tongue? Scared still?" She forced a smirk. "Another 200 points would be nice actually, would make us break a thousand. Don't you think so, too, Hiryu?"

"I suppose so." Her teammate's arms started coating themselves in scales, ready to fire off if he did something stupid.

And something stupid he did.

Neither could have guessed that he would dash at them at a full sprint, the riot shield on his arm held up in front of him like a battering ram.

Setsuna barely managed to disassemble her body and shoot off the large chunks to the sides to dodge. Hiryu wasn't as lucky as she met with the wall on her back hard enough to get dazed. "You left your back open idi-" She saw the two shields hanging off of his back, blocking her shot. "FUCK!"

Just as she was flying into position to shoot him from the side, his left hand twitched subtly and started moving of its own accord, even as his full attention was given to the woman he had pinned against the wall.

She pulled the trigger. "You left your side open!"

He pulled his twice.

Setsuna didn't even comprehend what was happening as her bullet popped in the air before it made contact with him. Then the shock hit her. Her body spasmed in response as electricity shot through her dismantled form from the chest piece still attached to her torso, causing her grip on her pistol to loosen.

* * *

"TEN SECONDS!" Mic's voice echoed, excitable from the sudden change in the rankings Izuku was causing.

Endeavor watched with rapt attention, but on the male instead of her prodigy. She watched him dismantle his opposition with an efficiency and brutality that she admired. Taking the first place down with such raw power was just the cherry on top.

_Wonder what his family has in terms of quirks…_

Her face split open in a sick grin, a plan forming in her head.

_Maybe if Shoko won't leave the legacy I want, he will._

* * *

Izuku departed another revolver round to her, dropping her points along with her as the second shock made her crash to the ground, losing her control over her hovering torso.

He then emptied the cylinder on her, the electricity stopping its buzz throughout her body finally as the gun clicked; out of ammo.

That's when his flow state started crashing, the silenced parts of his brain resuming function full force, causing him to stumble at the shock. _Jesus Christ-_

_"Y̮ou͙ ̩o̦k?͢"_

_Are they?_

He shook his head slightly as he pulled back from his spot, letting Hiryu stumble to the ground, grabbing her and letting her down slowly instead.

Just as he was placing the fellow hero-in-training down, two familiar explosions rung out.

" THAT'S THE GAME! A dramatic last-second play has shaken up the standings! Who will be left standing when the smoke clears?! "

"What the hell was that?" He blinked again, slightly dazed due to the mental strain of dropping out of flow, in addition to the paint explosions nearby.

"_Y̫ou̧ t̩h͢ink we gǫt̘ ̫e̢n̬ou̧gh̻ ̮po͉ințs̢ ̼t͎o get ̫i̥n̜to ̘t̺he ̮f̲i̟nạl͕s?̧_"

He looked down on his chest to see an impressive score of 875 glowing proudly.

_I think we did._

Setsuna coughing brought his attention back to the moment, his body acting before his mind as he pulled her to a seated position, the rest of her body slowly re-assembling itself back together. "Damn, you play hard." She smirked a little. "Izuku Midoriya, right?" She poked him in the chest, her hand mimicking a gun.

"Next time, I'll be hunting _you _down~"

He didn't know if he should've apologised or blushed, and instead just did both at the same time, eliciting a snicker from the woman prodding him in the stomach. "Not so stoic when not in a fight?"

"I- I guess? Sorry, I got lost in the moment back there," he defended, trying to ignore the 100 written on her chest.

"You get lost hard, then," She smiled, attempting to rise to her feet. "c'mon, let's see what the final rankings are."


	35. I have bruises no one can see

One thing became clear as the class 1-B student tried getting to her feet:

The sustained shock had caused her legs to turn to jello, making it impossible for her to stand upright.

Seeing her struggle balancing, Izuku gave her a hand to lean on, along with Hiryu who probably had a minor concussion, causing the fellow green-head to snicker. "What, you gonna lift everyone you defeated?"

"I mean… I kinda wanna show there are no hard feelings between us; it was just a game after all." Izuku muttered back, bashfully. "Wait, there are none, right?"

"Yeah yeah- just gotta teach me how to get that focused, boy," Setsuna huffed out. "I thought getting 'tunnel visioned' was just a saying, then here you come pulling that..." _It was kinda scary…_

He smiled down to the woman. "I-I'll try to."

* * *

" TIME FOR THE RESULTS, LISTENERS! " Mic whooped, the finalized rankings flashing on the holograms in the feed.

Mandalay couldn't help but chuckle softly at the results. Ragdoll started vibrating softly, giggling wildly. "Look at how lively that kitten is!"

Pixie-Bob was still salivating about the male hero-prospect that was going to fall straight into their laps.

"First place goes to Uraraka Ochako! Barely passing Midoriya Izuku, who is straddling the line between her and her fellow teammate, Asui Tsuyu in third place!"

* * *

Izuku almost choked on his spit hearing that, eyes searching for Ochako on his route as he lead both Setsuna and Hiryu out of the arena

He managed to find the girl who beat him on the scoreboard just as they were about to exit out the arena. She was blushing slightly, looking a little embarrassed from all the attention in the middle of a clearing near the edge of the arena, a corridor leading up to the exit allowing him the sight of her.

Sensing his gaze, she turned back towards him, and their gazes locked onto each other in practiced fluidity. They stared at each other.

He smiled, his eyes filling with a mix of adoration, fear and…

Her blush went from pink to neon.

* * *

"Wait, how did that…?" Pony looked at the scoreboard the English phrases flowing out on their own at the sight of the massive distance between her and Saiko.

1st place: Uraraka Ochako

2nd place: Midoriya Izuku

3rd place: Asui Tsuyu

4th place: Kirishima Eiko & Bakugo Katsumi

5th place: Tsunotori Pony

6th place: Yaoyorozu Momo & Ashido Mina

7th place: Shiozaki Ibara

8th place: Shinsou Hitsuki

9th place: Todoroki Shoko & Jiro Kyoka

10th place: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

11th place: Intelli Saiko

12th place: Hatsume Mei & Iida Tomoyo

"How is there that much of a distance between us?" She asked, a cute confused expression in her large eyes.

"It's simple really," Saiko muttered, a kind look in her eyes. "The IEDs you were carrying on your horns only counted for you, we were too close to the end for the points to average between us."

"D-does that mean I was too slow?" Pony whined, almost breaking into tears. "I-I'm sorry, Intelli, I was-"

Saiko chuckled, her hand patting the shorter woman's head. "Pony, it's fine; this is all according to plan. We both made it in!"

"W-we did!" Pony sobbed, hugging into Saiko's chest, smiling into it. "We're in the finals!"

"We are." Saiko smiled hugging her back as the walls sank down the stadium returning to its original shape.

* * *

Midnight groaned as Cementos started to reset the arena, students stumbling slightly much like her.

" Congrats to the top 16! You all get to _really _show your stuff in the upcoming finals! " she raised a wobbly arm to the sky gesturing at the spinning roulette " Let's see what the final match is going to be, shall we? "

The spinner landed on 'tug of war'.

Then the label started to crack, then shattered, revealing what the final event really was.

" AS IF IT WOULD BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN- " Mic roared in the booth, hyping the audience up.

The writing stood bright and proud on the hologram, the audience starting to cheer at its sight.

" ONE-ON-ONE BATTLES IN A FORMAL TOURNAMENT! "

"But first, a lunch break."

The crowd started booing.

* * *

Mai shuddered as she came to. Looking dumbly at the shifting walls of the stadium _...Wait- what happened?_

_What happened to the second match?_

_The last thing I remember is…_

Her eyes landed on the purple haired girl in front of her. "You."

"I did what I did to get to the finals." She said simply, not even turning to look back at the confused hero-in-training. "I'm not sorry. Better luck next time."

With that, she walked off to the gateway leading to the cafeteria.

_What?_

* * *

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he handed off Hiryu to recovery girl, earning a scowl from the old woman, alongside a look that just screamed 'Really?'

Setsuna seemed to be glued to his side after that, prodding him with questions on how to achieve what he did in the paintball match, which he was happy to answer, even if the woman just looked more and more lost on the minute aspects of the state of 'flow'.

"What do you mean you need to feel as if you can't fail?" She asked, her dark green eyes squinting back at him incredulously.

"Well, that's one of the ways to trigger the state, I kinda had a shortcut tho-"

"Midoriya, can we talk?" Izuku's eyes locked onto the source of the voice, words dying in his throat.

Setsuna looked too, seeing the stoic face of Todoroki staring up at Izuku.

"Uh- would you mind giving us a minute...?" His eyes flared with a sudden realization. _I never got her name-_

"Tokage Setsuna," She finished for him, a smirk blossoming on her face before she walked off. "Monoma was wrong about you guys; you seem like good people"

"Thanks?" Izuku called out as she disappeared off to the side, leaving him alone with Shoko, who promptly turned to the other side and started to walk off.

Kinda confused, but used to the two-toned girl's less-than-perfect social skills, he followed her.

* * *

"Hatsume… why did you build this again?" Tomoyo looked down onto the Frankenstein's monster of a gun attached to the tendrils sprouting from Mei's back.

Sure the weapon did fire with deadly accuracy, but there was something off about the point-scaling. Somewhere while building the combination minigun-sniper, the coder for the pellets had gotten messed up.

At least that was the only explanation Tomoyo had for every shot only stealing 1 point from the opposition.

"I like to build, Iida, that's like asking if you like to run- actually, do you like to run?" Mei's scoped eyes locked onto the glass-wearing Hero course student.

"Of course! Wait, that doesn't-"

"Oh- then do I have some babies for you! Then again I should probably build them from scratch considering the make-up of your calves-" Her eyes started shining with unhidden excitement. "I'll make you the cutest babies for your legs!"

Tomoyo lost her train of thought after that, succumbing to Mei's unyielding passion.

* * *

Shoko was an inherently serious person. At least, that's how she presented herself to the world. Izuku had seen her maintain eye contact with people while slurping soba too many times to actually believe she was serious through and through.

But at this moment, staring him down with her heterochromatic eyes, he felt the full weight of her demeanor.

"You got second place, congratulations."

"Thanks…" he forced a smile, trying to lighten the atmosphere she was generating.

"Why didn't you use your quirk?"

That question held…more weight then it should have, as if it was only the tip of the iceberg weighing over Shoko.

"I have been? It's not exactly as visible as everyone else's…" He shrugged: Total Command had been keeping him in the race, after all.

"Are you saying that the lighting you can generate isn't 'visible'?" She asked, glare not weakening.

"That...kinda takes a lot out of me- I wouldn't be able to keep myself in the race if I kept dislocating stuff, would I?"

"I see. So you don't have a pledge like mine…"

"Eh?" Suddenly he remembered it, the thing he saw weeks ago.

_"Wa͇it̗-̧ she has͚-"_

"Your fire…" He breathed out before he could stop it.

"It's not _my _fire..." Her glare darkened.

"It was engineered in."

_"What ̝ḍo͔e̹s̭ t̜h͢a̙t̨ ̩e̹ven ̙me̟a̯-"_

"No- no no-" Izuku shook his head, getting disturbed at the implications.

"You seem to know what I'm talking about… Quirk Splicing." Her hand tightened to a fist. "I thought you were a similar …project at first."

"Don't call i-" He sighed leaning onto the wall, putting all of his weight onto it. "She couldn't have-"

"But she did." Shoko's eye landed on her left hand, igniting with fire, looking down on it with distaste and pure hatred. "I was created to surpass All Might. Endeavor found the perfect quirk to synergize with her own. And my mom just happened to be attached to it."

Izuku pinched his nose as his legs lost all power to them, causing him to slide down to his ass.

"She pressured her family to sell her off like livestock. Just so she could get her claws into her perfect human incubator." The fire in her hand extinguished, her gaze landing onto the man sitting on the floor, who was filled with pure dread. "I'm the fourth child she forced into my mother. The fourth experiment that finally succeeded."

_"Jes͇us ̠C͍hr̲iͅs̢t…̤"_

"And the worst part? I started enjoying myself here." Izuku's eyes snapped back to hers.

It was the closest he had seen Shoko to tears.

"A tool, built for solely for surpassing All might. Enjoying itself in a class-" Her left hand landed on the scarring around her eye. "After all the suffering I caused to my own mother…"

"S-Shoko, you didn'-"

"Yes I did! Do you know what carrying spliced eggs does to people?!" She snapped back, causing him to flinch. That much was true; eggs fertilized using other's eggs put a massive amount of strain on the carrying party. And considering her mother carried out four of them…

"It wasn't your fault, you didn't-" He grew silent, not finding the right words to say.

"In all of my memories of my mother, she was crying. _Suffering _from what Endeavor and I did to her." She continued, not even acknowledging his weak rebuttal. "And one day, she couldn't take it anymore."

"'I can't stand the left side of yours.'" Izuku flinched at the inflection of her voice.

"That's the last thing I heard my mother say to me before she poured boiling water on my left eye." She breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. "That's the last time I heard my mother's voice before she was institutionalized by that _woman _."

"The woman that broke her down- that took everything from my mother. I have her genes. I have _her _quirk. After that day, I promised myself that I would _never _use that side of me in battle."

"I'm going to make a point of it in the finals." She pulled off the wall she was leaning against. "I have been out of the top 3 since the start of this festival. She should be absolutely _livid _by this point." Izuku shivered at the empty look she gave him. "And when I take first place in the final by just using my mother's ice, she'll be denied from even feeling the pride of victory."

Shoko turned and walked out of the stadium, leaving a stunned and silent Izuku behind her. He didn't move, still processing what the hell Shoko had just told him.

_I can't imagine what she's gone through… And why did she tell me all that?_

Izuku wanted to chase after her, tell her _something _, but his body wouldn't move. He could only watch as she turned a corner and disappeared from his vision.

After a few more seconds his body finally started responding again, allowing him to rise back up to his feet, and stumble back to the main corridor. His eyes landed on Katsumi, sitting on the floor head in her arms.

"...There are fucked up people on this world, aren't there?" She said meekly, not even looking up.

"You shouldn't have eavesdropped." He responded, sitting next to her.

"Didn't mean to…" She huffed, leaning onto him slightly "I should apologize to her."

"I'd...not bring it up if I were you… She seemed hurt just talking about it." Izuku huffed, laying his head on hers.

"No, I meant for calling her 'Todoroki'."

He chuckled weakly. "You probably should wait for that, too…"

"Izuku… am I a bad person?"

His hand found its way to her head, patting it softly. "Not really, you didn't know…"

"That can't excuse all the shit I did."

"It doesn't. But you feeling guilty and wanting to change for the better does... C'mon, let's get some food." He got up, reaching out a hand to help her up, too.

"Yeah…" She grabbed on, letting him pull her up. Following him as they made their way to the cafeteria.

"...You are gonna do something stupid in the finals after hearing that, aren't you?" She asked, after the sustained silence.

"You know me too well." He smiled weakly.

_"A̘re̜ y̺ou͉ ̳r̥e̜al͟l̜y?̲"_

_I just can't sit by when she is in that state…_

_"D̬amn͟, ̝no͔ won̦d̳e͜ṟ ͔Toshi c̹h͖os̙e ͍you"_

"Well, don't do something _too _stupid. I wanna meet you at the top." She smirked back softly, trying to move out of the headspace Shoko's story had pulled them into.

* * *

Ochako was getting overwhelmed by all the praise, following her even to the cafeteria as more and more people congratulated her for coming in first place.

"Oh, Uraraka!" She was tempted to just turn her head to the other side, and run from the source before she placed the voice.

"Midoriya-san?" She turned to see the plump form of Izuku's mom, followed by a skinnier, blond woman that looked slightly scared.

"I'm so proud of you!" the woman chimed, along with a maternal smile. "You scared me in the race with that last stunt though... Please be careful."

The point-blank maternal aura almost overwhelmed Ochako's senses, and she almost hugged the woman as if she was her own mother. "I-I'll try to." She smiled back, then thought for a second. "Want to eat with us, Midoriya-san?"

"I'd love to!"

* * *

Momo was trying to focus after the adrenaline had left her body. Now that they were in the final leg of the event, she had to potentially fight her loved ones, considering all of them had made it to the finals alongside her. It wasn't a pleasant thought, especially since she knew how much winning this meant for Izuku, and how much him winning would mean to the world at large.

_Then again, getting this far is going to-_

"Yaomomoooooo!" Mina's voice broke her train of thought, as she did that same cute yet whiny tone to get her attention. "You keep ignoring meeeee…"

The vice representative of 1-A chuckled at the puppy eyes Mina was giving her, her black sclera letting her achieve a level of cuteness no mere mortal should be able to. "Sorry Ashido, kinda got lost in thought there"

"OH!" Mina's eyes started sparkling. "Bet you were thinking of Izuku~!"

Momo blushed slightly, her pink-skinned classmate had hit the nail in the head. "I-its just-"

"Were you thinking about your date with him on the beach?" Mina asked, snuggling close to her slightly, to keep the conversation between the two.

""I-it wasn't a date-" the taller woman tried to rebuke, only for the memory of Izuku to break the surface and replay in her mind, causing her mind to go blank. Much to the entertainment of her current interviewer.

"Sure sounded like it was one, considering how happy you, Rara, and Hatsume looked after it-" Mina's face twitched. "I mean, after he was cleared out of the hospital…"

_Wait- perfect!_

"Well, weren't you happy after he came back, too?" Momo argued back, trying to at least preserve the lie for a bit longer.

"That- fair point," Mina huffed, shrinking a bit. "Still, though... you seem very close with him…"

Momo's eyebrow shot up at that. _W__ait, is this going where I think it's going?_

"Do you know what type of girls he likes?"

Momo was internally screaming as she got her portion at the cafeteria. She wished she could just scream without Mina getting closer to the truth.

* * *

Miruko tapped her foot as she waited in the line for Lunch-Rush's stand in the cafeteria, which was only accessible to the UA staff and students. But being the number seven hero had its perks. Delicious, delicious perks.

_Wonder if she still has that steamed carrot recipe…_

Her ears perked at a sudden lack of sound as the general murmuring ceased, following the door opening. Her red eyes searching the reason why ended up locking onto him.

The man.

Miruko then thought something nigh blasphemous. _Carrots can wait. _As she left her spot in the line, pushing her way towards Izuku Midoriya, the first place in the first match, and second in the second.

She noticed that she wasn't the only one making her way towards the man in question. Even the glowing flames of Endeavor shifted towards to him, too.

The two heroes finally made eye contact as people shifted away, giving a wide berth even if they looked interested in the man breaking the status quo. The simply had to; none of the weaklings could challenge the second-best, especially with the look she was sporting.

But Miruko was no weakling.

Izuku flinched at the sudden arrival of Endeavor, a normal response to the muscular and tall form of the woman. Which didn't make sense to the rabbit hero, he was as tall as Endeavor himself. Then she noticed it.

He was holding himself back from fighting the number two right there and then.

"You, kid," she started, looking up to the man, taking his attention, and a scowl from the number two who hadn't even noticed his intents, let alone her until she had spoken up. "Great work out the-"

"Miruko?" His tone was one of wonder and awe. Not matching the fighting intent she had detected just seconds ago. "Oh my God, you _are_ Miruko the Rabbit Hero" He took a few steps forward, getting closer to her. "I'm a huge fan!"

The blonde woman that was to his side started cackling, holding her stomach trying to stay upright, as both Miruko and Endeavor were at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry you probably get this a lot but can I get an autograph?"

Miruko blinked, then looked down to the notebook and pen he surely didn't have a second before.

"Uh- sure" She grabbed the pen out of his hand, aiming to sign the page, only to halt when she saw what was already on it.

A drawing of her, skill prevalent in it. Along with bullet point notes on her fighting style and victories.

"You have been studying me?" Her eyes squinted down to the page, then back up to the giant of a man towering over her.

"Well, kinda… I've got pretty strong legs, and I thought having some of your techniques would help…" He looked to the side bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is that weird?"

"**You**" Both Miruko and Izuku turned to face Endeavor, who had crashed into the conversation. "How much longer do you intend to make me wait?"

"Oh sorry," Izuku apologized, looking back down to Miruko. "Would you mind if we moved to the side? I think she wants to pass through,"

"No, _boy _, I want to talk with you about something important," the second-best rumbled on again, glaring at the man, who didn't even flinch at her visible annoyance.

Miruko was getting more and more impressed by the man, standing his ground against the second-best hero of all Japan.

"Oh, sorry I want _nothing _to do with you."

"What!?" The flames of Endeavor flared up. "Now you listen here you little punk-"

"No, thank you," he shot back cutting the pro's speech short.

Miruko had to take a step back as the flames Endeavor was putting out became unbearable. The man didn't even _budge _.

"How _dare _yo-"

"I'd suggest turning those off before you set the sprinklers off. the UA sprinkler system is a little on the 'Plus Ultra' side, if you forgot, might extinguish the flames of your suit entirely. You wouldn't want that, would _you_?"

Miruko couldn't believe her ears. _Holy shit!_

The blonde was almost on the floor from laughing too hard.

Endeavor's flames calmed down, but her expression only hardened. "Just who the _hell_ do you think you are?"

"Midoriya Izuku," he said simply, turning his back to her. "Now, if that would be all, I have a _hero _to talk to."

Endeavor looked ready to burst like a volcano at that, but the scene was pulling way too much attention, and decking the first male in UA would've been a PR nightmare. So she did the next best thing by kicking the door open and leaving the premises, grumbling under her breath.

Miruko just looked at the receding back of the hero, then to Izuku. "Ballsy move, kid. I like that." She smiled up to him. "Can't wait to see what you do in the finals."

He blushed at the compliment. "T-thanks. It means a lot coming from you."

"And about trying to use my moves…" She glared up to him, gaze turning scrutinizing. "You know what that means right?"

Izuku blinked back in confusion. _Wait, was that an insult to her? Oh God, I hope I didn't-_

"Means that you are trying imitate me." Her crimson irises smoldered with what initially seemed like anger. "You think you have what it takes to attempt those?"

Realization dawned in his eyes, his emerald flames of determination leaking through soon after, mirroring Miruko's. "I'll prove that to you in the finals then."

Miruko's face broke out in another smile. _I like this one. _"Ok then, kid." She pushed his notebook back to his hands, which sported a new signature. "I'll take your proof as payment for the signature then."

She poked his chest. "Now go and prove yourself."

He smirked back. "With _pleasure. _"


	36. When one must fight

"Izuuuuukuuuuu~" The man stiffened at the sudden sound, turning to the source, taking Miruko by surprise. _What kind of monster makes him react like that?_

Her question was answered when the strange woman with pink hair tackled the man who had gotten her attention, her arms wrapping around his frame like clockwork. His face broke in a soft smile as his arms returned the gesture, hugging his 'attacker.' "Hey, Mei."

"Good job at getting second place!" She giggled, reaching up and petting his head. Causing him to laugh softly.

Miruko blinked. _Huh…_

_Why do I want to do that now?_

"Oi, Hatsume," The blonde he had arrived with cleared her throat and gestured at Miruko with her eyes.

The pinkette looked at the blonde, then to where she was gesturing. A look of recognition flooded her amber eyes. "Miruko? _The _Rabbit hero?" she slapped Izuku's chest as she pulled away from the hug. "Izuku, you know Miruko? Why haven't you told me before?"

He chuckled weakly. "I just met her, Mei, c'mon." The woman in question looked back at him, then back to the pro.

Miruko liked the gleam Mei's eyes got when she looked back at her. "Then, let me introduce myself! Hatsume Mei, genius inventor!" She exclaimed, puffing out her chest with pride.

_Oho, this one has some spunk._

"You saw my babies out in the field, right Miruko-san?" Mei was grinning like a cat with a new toy in her hands.

Miruko _respected _that. "That I did, what about them?"

"Want me to build you something? I'm sure you are dying for an upgrade to your shoes." She pointed her thumb to herself. "I can make them doubly as effective"

"Oh?" Oh, this Mei was _fun _. "But you know I can't just give you my current ones to 'upgrade,' right?"

"It would be easier to start from scratch anyways," Mei huffed. Miruko noticed the blonde saying goodbye to Izuku and walking away from the corner of her eye. "If Izuku's estimations about you are correct you can only go to around 50% of your full strength without them breaking, right? That means you need a new chassis on them; it's easier to build that from scratch than to try and fit it into the old design."

Miruko couldn't help the smirk she got. "Spot on. Impressive estimate, Midoriya." Her smirk widened "But can you _really _build something that can withstand _all of this _?" Miruku gestured to her toned legs in a teasing tone.

Izuku couldn't hold back his blush.

Mei looked taken aback. "Are you doubting my skills?"

"Mei, no-" Izuku tried to stop it.

"Tune in to my fight. I'll prove that I have the skills you would pay for!" She smirked back.

"Mei!" Miruko enjoyed seeing his shocked expression for the first time. "No, wait, that's actually sensible." He blinked again. "Who are you and what did you do with Mei?"

The pinkette elbowed him in the side, just at the sweet spot to put pressure on his kidney, if Miruko saw it right. "_ Ow! _Alright, alright." He smiled in response to her pout back up to him.

_Oh, these two are gonna be fun to wat-_

" LISTEN UP, LISTENERS! " The howl from the PA system brought everything to a screeching halt. " WITH THE LUNCH BREAK COMING TO AN END SO SOON, IT'S TIME FOR THE BRACKET TO BE ANNOUNCED! "

Everyone in the cafeteria got serious, cutlery stilling.

" FIRST UP! URARAKA OCHAKO VERSUS IIDA TOMOYO! FOLLOWED BY MIDORIYA IZUKU VERSUS HATSUME MEI! " The sound of someone getting hit upside the head echoed through the speakers.

" This is too irrationally drawn out. Everyone, look to your nearest screen. " Aizawa's lazy demeanor replaced Mic's over the top presentation.

Miruko gazed over to the screen in the cafeteria

Uraraka Ochako vs Iida Tomoyo

Midoriya Izuku vs Hatsume Mei

Ashido Mina vs Shiozaki Ibara

Yaoyorozu Momo vs Shinsou Hitsuki

Kirishima Eiko vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Asui Tsuyu vs Intelli Saiko

Bakugo Katsumi vs Jirou Kyoka

Tsunotori Pony vs Todoroki Shoko

" The matches start in 20 minutes. _Don't be late. _"

With that the announcement ended.

Izuku and Mei looked at each other. Miruko crossed her arms. _Let's see how you two react to fighting against each other._

"Wonder if Midnight would let me call Mecha-Might?" Mei shrugged, a coy smile on her face.

"Why, do you want me to break our baby again?" He smiled back.

"Oh, you are _on _!" With that, both started walking separate ways.

Izuku stopped and waved to Miruko before he left. "Enjoy the fight, Miruko-san"

_...The fuck is Mecha-Might?_

_WAIT, DID HE SAY _**_OUR _**_BABY?_

* * *

Izuku had a goal as he walked up to Ochako's table, but couldn't help but get side-tracked as her face came into view. "Hey, Ochako." His face broke out in an unintentional warm smile.

She seemed to be dealing with the same issues as she looked back at him, her smile almost splitting her face in half. "Mr. Second Place~"

His face scrunched slightly, a blush forming. "You really gonna tease me about that?"

"Only if it gets to you." She poked her tongue out, earning a snicker from the rest of the table, including...

"It might." He shrugged casually, eyes locking onto All Might in her civilian form. "Oh, have you met my trainer?"

"I was getting to that sweetie!" Inko cut in, smiling softly in that maternal way. "Girls, meet Yagi Toshiko, Izuku's trainer!"

They looked between the three, with a deadpan expression.

Inko started chuckling lightly. "S-sorry, I just wanted to introduce her myself"

The table started chuckling along, Tsuyu's ribbits bleeding through.

"But yeah, mind if I borrow you for a second, Yagi-sensei?" Izuku cut in, his own laughter subsiding.

"Uh, sure thing, you- Midoriya"

Both of them nearly had a heart attack at that near slip-up.

* * *

"THAT WAS _WAAAAAAY _TOO CLOSE!" Izuku's chest heaved to catch his breath in the secluded area he pulled All Might and himself into.

"I'll say," Japan's number one hero sighed, holding herself up with a hand on the wall. "What did you need me for, anyway?"

"Oh, right." Izuku turned to the hero, face resolute.

"I never told my mom that I had a quirk"

All Might's mouth hung open.

"_ Shit _."

* * *

None of them knew how it happened, but 5 minutes before the match they noticed it. The waiting rooms that were assigned to them were directly next to each other.

Izuku thought Nozomi had a paw in it.

_"H͙ḛh… ̖p̜aw.̭"_

_Would you shut up for a second?_

___"Șhh. ͇Dọn̖'͚t w͎orry͚ abo̙ut͔ m͎e͉; ̯youͅr g̢i̳r̙l̼f̹r͙i̢e̪nds ͈want sͅo̱me at̻tent̪ion~͜"_

He turned to the other three that had converged on his waiting room, and saw that was indeed correct.

"You have been acting weirder than normal, Deku… You alright?" Ochako broke the silence in the room.

"Yeah, just have a voice in my head, that's all. Not the weirdest thing that's happened to me." He shrugged, smiling shakily.

The three in his room started laughing like he had hoped they would. Tension left their shoulders and his as he joined into the laughter.

"I suppose the mental strain is getting to you, then?" Momo laughed softly behind her hand. "It's taking its toll on me, too… we might end up fighting each other after all…" Her shoulders stiffened. "Well, you and Mei are already fighting…"

"Yeah!" Mei whooped. "It's gonna be so much fun!"

Momo giggled at the girls' enthusiasm. "If you say so, Mei."

"Well… how about this." Izuku raised a finger "We promise each other that, with the obvious exception of Mei, we will meet each other in the tournament." He smiled, shrugging off Mei's half-hearted punch to his arm. "That way, the stress is gone. No use fearing the inevitable after all."

"Yeah!" Ochako whooped. "Pinky promise!" She added, extending her pinky out.

"Aren't we too old for this?" Izuku chuckled, extending his finger still.

"One's never too old for pinky promises." Momo's voice came as she too extended pinky out.

It took them a couple of seconds to figure it out, but the three did manage to wrap their pinkies together, shaking slightly as is the tradition.

"AND!" Mei's voice broke through as she tackled Izuku. "This is for good luck!" And kissed him on the lips, causing the other two to start laughing at the eccentric inventor.

He kissed back after the shock laughing slightly as he pulled away. "Thanks, Mei"

And then in the heat of the moment, she did something _really _unexpected.

"You are gonna need some too!"

She pecked both Ochako and Momo on the lips as well.

* * *

_I think I am lost… _Miruko looked around in the unfamiliar pathways of the bleachers, trying to figure out where her seat was.

"367...367…" her eyebrow twitched, looking at the seat number closest to her. _A113? The hell?_

"Ma'am, are you lost?" Miruko's eyes locked onto the shorter woman who had spoken up, her kind green eyes reminding her of the green-head that she'd met a couple of minutes ago.

"Looks like it." She huffed, crossing her arms. _Stupid seating plan._

" Uraraka Ochako vs Iida Tomoyo, starting in 2 minutes! "

Miruko's ears perked at attention at the announcement. "Guess I'ma miss out on the first fight trying to find my place…"

"Yagi-san, we have an empty seat nearby, right?" The plump woman's words caused her ears to pivot unintentionally.

"Yeah, we got a few empty seats Midoriya-san." A tall blonde woman who looked too skinny to be healthy responded.

_Huh… she has a weird aura to her, almost as if she is a pro herself…_

"Why?" The blonde added, finally looking up to see Miruko standing next to the plumper woman. She looked frozen in shock.

Miss Midoriya turned back to Miruko. "Would you like to sit with us?"

Miruko's ears twitched. " Sure- wait… Midoriya?" The dots connected. "You are _his _mother!?"

Inko chuckled softly. "Yes, and you are… Miruko-san, right?" The hero nodded.

"My son is a fan of yours."

_Oh- so he wasn't just saying that…_

_Why does that make me feel fucking giddy?_

* * *

Ochako was still trying to calm her beating heart after the kiss Mei gave her as she walked up to the stage, Mic announcing her arrival with gusto only an entertainer could achieve.

"AND HER OPPONENT, THE YOUNGEST OF THE IIDA FAMILY, IIDA TOMOYO!"

Both competitors faced each other with a slight bow, taking a couple of steps back. Listening for Midnight's cue to start.

Her whip cracked. "The rules are simple: toss your opponent out, immobilize them, or have them admit defeat and you win." She smirked, "Don't worry about fighting 'dirty'; ethics have no place on the battlefield!"

Tomoyo bowed again. "May the best hero win."

Ochako smiled back. "Sorry, I got a promise to keep."

Tomoyo's eyes widened. "I see."

Ochako widened her stance. _I have only one chance at this._

Midnight cracked her whip again. "START!"

"_ RECIPRO BURST!"_

Tomoyo became a blur in Ochako's vision, she could barely make out her body dashing straight at her, arms extended to push her out.

_Ok, just like Izuku showed me. I got this!_

He had given her some pointers on martial arts, mainly Aikido; as her smaller stature and gravity nullification lent itself to it.

At least it's combat roll had come in handy in the race.

With practiced precision she stepped _into _the oncoming attack, ducking towards Tomoyo's left extended arm.

The speedster couldn't react in time at the speed she was moving.

Ochako pushed her classmate's arm into her core, gripping her wrist in the process, her free hand latching onto Tomoyo's elbow. Normally, the finish would be to pin the opponent by their arm.

But, normally, the user couldn't manipulate gravity.

Ochako steadied her legs as the momentum of Tomoyo's engines hit her. Twisting Tomoyo's direction slightly to the left as Ochako's shoulder found its place in the taller woman's armpit.

Then she simply pulled her arm downwards and let go, watching Tomoyo sail through the air and wincing as she smacked onto the stadium wall.

" AND WE START WITH A GREAT SHOW OF TECHNIQUE FROM THE 1ST PLACE OF THE PREVIOUS MATCH! " Mic's boisterous voice cut through the silent stadium.

"Sorry, Iida!" Ochako called out.

* * *

Izuku started smiling in the 1-A bleachers watching Ochako prep for her move seconds before the match started. He laughed at the faces of his classmates as Tomoyo's secret technique only caused her to lose faster, before wincing at the thud of her slamming against the stadium wall.

"I must say…" Momo started from his side. "I doubted your choice at first, but considering _that… _"

"She's a natural, isn't she?" He smiled back. But his face froze for a second. "Was it me, or was Iida's impact weaker than it should've been?"

Momo nodded slowly. "Now that you mention it…"

" NEXT MATCH IS STARTING SOON. CONTESTANTS, GET TO YOUR SPOTS! "

Izuku hesitated but got up in the end. "We'll talk about it later, see you in a bit!"

* * *

Miruko had to admit, maybe sitting in this side was a stroke of luck. The seats were closer to the action, and on top of that, she had pleasant company. Inko Midoriya, she had managed to learn it during the wait for the first fight, was a kind woman.

She also had a quirk where she could pull out snacks from her bag regularly or that's what the pro thought, considering the moon-cakes she kept getting handed.

" AND HERE WE GO! " Miruko stood at attention as Mic's voice pulled her away from her own musings.

" ON THE NORTH SIDE, THE FIRST MAN TO EVER STEP FOOT INTO THIS RING, THE VERY DEFINITION OF GOING PLUS ULTRA FOR HIS DREAMS, THE QUIRKLESS WONDER, MIDORIYA IZUKU! "

She couldn't help but smirk at his entrance, looking slightly overwhelmed yet still standing tall.

" ON THE SOUTH SIDE, THE FIRST AND ONLY SUPPORT COURSE STUDENT TO _EVER _MAKE IT THIS FAR, HATSUME MEI! "

_Let's see what this 'Mecha-Might' they were talking about was._

* * *

"What the hell is a 'Mecha-Might?'" Midnight asked, surprised that both contestants were looking at her with expectant eyes.

"A robot Mei built, mind if she uses it in the battle?" Izuku answered, eyes shimmering with excitement.

She pursed her lips, thinking it through. _It is kinda unprecedented, but these two are unprecedented contestants…_

"As long as you both agree to this, I'LL ALLOW IT!" She smirked at the little 'Yess!' Mei let out.

The pinkette turned to the camera, cupping her hands. "COME TO MOMMY!"

Izuku did his best to not laugh out loud at Midnight's sweat drop at the weird summoning call.

It didn't even take a minute before the familiar sounds of hydraulics echoed throughout the stadium. The speakers that so far carried Mic's voice crackled as the input was forcefully changed, probably via hacking from the mech en route.

The white noise subsided finally as the all too familiar, broken voice clicked through.

"**H̻̚A̺̚V͎͋E̠ ̘͘F͆͟Ḛ̆Ȧ̜Ȑ̺.̠̐.͙͆.͚̾**"

Izuku dropped onto a combat stance, smiling widely.

Mecha-Might jumped from the stadiums roof, landing onto the concrete ring, cracking it slightly.

"**F̙̃O̯̊R͕͝ ͅĨ̗ ̧̑A̻̚M̙̚ ͢E͆ͅV̤̆E͎̐R̜͋Ỳ̮W̮͐H̭̅E̗͑R͐ͅE͉͐!̗̅**"

Midnight, lowered the arm she was shielding her face with "Oh. So that's why his name..."

"READY FOR ROUND TWO, YOU OVERGROWN TOASTER?!" He screamed back as Mei started cackling. _Oh, how he has changed since their first fight…_

"**I̥͋ ̥̀W̅͢A̧̛S̰̾ ̘̍_B̭̒U̢̕I̭̕L̛̞T̞͛_ ̩̓R̪̄E̯͌A̦͌D͛͟Y̪̍!̤͑**"

* * *

"Holy…" Miruko didn't finish the thought as she watched the man _throw down _with the Goliath of machinery. The two figures had barely hesitated, lunging forwards and blurring as they began to throw punches with lethal intent. Each countered punch released shockwaves that shook the sidelines, each parried blow sent sparks and clangs of bone and metal reverberating through the air.

And the crowd was loving every second of it.

"That's some serious power he is throwing around…" Her ears perked from another shockwave that washed over them, the two figures lunging once more _He's just punching the robot though…_

"He's just warming up." The tall blonde grinned at her side, pride evident in her blue eyes.

"Measuring up his opponent..."

* * *

Mei chuckled breathlessly as another shockwave messed her hair up even more. God, she never knew how much of a thrill standing so close to a fight was.

_Or, specifically standing so close to _**_Izuku_ **_fighting._

Before her, the two clashed once more, but instead of breaking apart for another clash, the two ground to a stop, arms held up and meeting between them.

"You've been upgraded, huh?" Izuku grunted, holding back both of Mecha-Might's fists with open palms, at a stalemate.

"**Ȧ̺f̮̈f̿͟i̤̍r̮̈m̊͟a͎t̗̃i̧̍v̱̍ë͈.̱͋ ̜̒A̧̔ń͍d̫̂ ̫̅y̝͝ơ͙u͎͆ ͍̎ȟ̡áͅv̘̅e̤͐ ̙̑g͕̿o̝̽t̠͒t̬͊ȇ̫n͓̋ ͓͗s͕̍t͓̄r͖̃o͔͞n̦g̤̉e͟͠ṟ̅,̨̒ ͇͛Y̨͝o̫͂u̫̚n̫̑g̱͋ ͟͞M̳͘i̼͒ď͙o͟͞r̢̚ị̈ỹ̙a͍͝.̢̇**" The bot roared with laughter. "**Y͖̑ó̮u͔͐ ̻͂m̥̋i͔͒g͖̍h̨̿t̻̐ ̘̊å̦c͎͊ẗ͚́ű͖a͓l̮̏l̮̂y͈̓ ̲͞w͙̚ì̟n͚̍ ̡͌ẗ́͟h̼̃ỉ̜s̆͜ ̧̄o̩͠n̤͐ë̩́ ̫̾w̗͂į̚t͙̆ẖ͆o͚͊u͍͑t̼͘ ̪̋f̢̆o̓͢r̻͋t͓̽y̳͂ ̨̽r̥̒ẻ̢t͕̒r͇̒i̧̍e̅ͅs͕̑.̛̫**"

The bright red eye glowed as the steel face leaned in, the two fighters pushing harder against each other. "**T̹͌h̡͞a̲͗t̚͢'̯̏s͈̑ ̨̂ä̗́s̬͊ ̬̍m͍̿a͕͐ň̦y̧ ͇̆a̜̎ş͘ ̥̔f̱͂o͕̒u̱̍r͖̉ ̹̓ṱ̎e͇͡n̡̓s̝̎.̈͜ ̞̍A̋ͅn̩̐d̺͋ ̞t͕͗h͍͗á̤t͉̎'̠̿ś̘ ̫͞t͔̔ḙ̏r͖͐r͚͋i̩͋b̹̓l͐͜e͓͋.̹**"

"Yeah, but guess what?" Izuku leaned in as well, before he redirected the mechs fists to his sides, letting the towering machine crash forward at the sudden shift in forces. "Leg."

"**Ṽ̲o͓̓ȉ̠c̮͒ë͉́ ͖͞c̺̋ỏͅm͈͂m̞͠a̞̒n̡͂d͓̃ ̧̃n̞̒ō͓ṱ́ ͕̽ŗ̒ē̤c̮͂ǫ̋ġ͢-͚͆**" The phrase was cut short by Izuku's leg as it shot straight up with focused intent, his foot meeting with the side of the metal skull, causing the goliath to stumble to the side. A visible dent to its cranium.

Izuku hissed a bit, trying to dispel the burning sensation washing over his leg by stamping it down. "Wow, that stings more than I thought it would."

"**Ș̈́ć̨a̮͊n̹ ̜͠i̾͟n̥͂i͎͂t̡͑i͉̒a̛̞t̫̑ě̫d̢͝.͔͐ ̫̓G̹͆ŏ̮ȏ͍d̨͐ ̤͠n̈͜ẽ͓ẁ̰s̛̥,̫̆ ͎̔Y͙̋o͇̾ȕ̯n̢g̪͒ ̠̽M̜̏i̯̾d̫̃o̜̍r͜͡i̜͌y̹͗a͓͞,̭̄ ̻͐n̼͞o̝̓t͎̑h̠̎i̦̒ṅ̡g͈̉ ͌͜į̕s̘̍ ̡̕b̫͘r̹͡o̜͑k̑͢e͗͢n͇̐.͎̊**" Pushing itself back and rising up once more, the bot made a show of cracking his own knuckles, actual popping sounds coming from them."_**Y͟͝e̲͆ṱ̉.͎̆**_"

_Leave it to Mei to make him so intimidating._

With that, the two rushed back at each other.

* * *

Neiro rubbed her eyes. _Eyes, stop this trickery! There's no way that the bastard of 1-A is actually going toe to toe with _**_that._**

"Kendo, what did 1-A sneak into our food? I think I am hallucinating." She smiled shakily, turning to her class representative.

Who was just watching the fight, with her mouth slightly ajar.

Tokage was the one to respond, but not in a way she could've expected. "YEAH, GET 'IM, MIDORIYA!"

Neiro blinked. Then turned to Saiko. "Intelli can you pinch me? I think I'm hallucinating"

Saiko laughed, hiding her mouth behind her hand as she usually did. "Monoma, you mean to tell me you don't want to see the male form at its peak?" She licked her lips, looking back at the action. "Now, let's see how much Midoriya has changed~"

_What the actual _**_Fuck_ **_?_

* * *

Mt. Lady turned to the stadium, sensing the shockwaves. "What is even going on in there…"

"They said it was the fight between Midoriya and Hatsume, right?" Kamui Woods turned to her fellow security detail. "Why? You interested?"

"Hell yeah, sounds like he is getting beat to shit!" Mt. Lady smirked, jogging up to one of the holograms ahead of the small group of pros. "Let's see…"

She started babbling at the sight.

"Wha- how is he…"

* * *

_THAT STRONG?! _Endeavor fumed, letting her flames roar.

Her mind started clicking again. _This is an opportunity I can't miss…_

Her face broke out in a sick smirk._ After dealing with Shoko, this should be easy._

_I'll just have to bend him to my will, too…_

_I did it before, I can do it again._

* * *

Izuku was having the time of his life as he clashed with the machine again, dodging a few punches and delivering a drop-kick to the center of its mass, causing the robot to skid to almost to the edge of the arena, sparks flying as its feet scraped the concrete.

"_W̱a̧it͢ s̙o̫, i̯f̰ y̤o̗ų ͕t͍oşse̼d͢ **hi͕m** out, ̦w̼ou̢ld͓ tha̡t ̬c̱o͎u͟n̰t as y̰ou̯r̤ w̞in ̯o͇r.̡.̫.?̧_"͙

_Shhh, let me have this._

Mecha-Might roared with laughter. "**I̻͋ ̱͞t͎̄ẖ̊ȍ̤ȕ͍g̫h̠͝ț͐ ̢̃y͓͝ö̹u̯͋ ͓̄k̝̍ṅ̤e͎̔w̙͘ ̫͊b̮̽e̝̿t͔̿t̖̽e̗͆ṛ̓ ͙̔t̩͗h̰̅a̳͂ǹ̥ ̏ͅṱ̋ö̻́ ̦̈t͈͒r̉ͅy̳͡ ͔̔b̨̾r̘͆u͞ͅţ̀ẽ̳ ̤̉f̦͑o̘͊r̙̿c̹͊ị̾n̩͌g̃͜ ͚͋m͉͛e̱̽,̰́ ̢̕Y̹̌o͔ů̜n̰̔g͔̑ ͖̕M̝͞i̤͗d̡͗o̦͞r̰̄i̪͡y̫̋a̗̋.̥̑ ̼̅Y͌͜o̬͊u̱̐ ̻͂b͇̒a̬͠r̪͠e͔̓l̤̇y̢̎ ̬̉l͔̕e̗͗f̢͐ṭ͝ ͍̆a̼͊ ͓͛d͚̆e͇͗n̠͛t̼̋**!̠͂ **" **He lurched forward, steam hissing from his joints. "**A͙̚ṇ̃d͍̈ ̧͡_t̨̉h̤͠a͕͌t̟́_ ̈́͟w̙̒a͙͐s̜͠ ̭̈y̪͝o̳̅ů̝ȓ̠ ̘͂l̢̑a̪͂s̪̓t̲͆ ̜̚c͕̊ḫ̾a̢͊n͈͌ĉ̱ė̬.̣͠**" The sound of hydraulics and servos began to hiss and whir even louder, the cooling system of the mech boiling in its pipes even while running even harder to counter the heat generated by its power system.

Izuku only smiled wider. "Gave him a second gear, huh Mei?"

"You know it! Try keeping up with him now!" The inventor laughed as Mecha-might closed the gap in an instant, ready to punch the man with all his might.

"_O̢h̪ ̰shi̤t̬-̪_ _"_

Izuku barely managed to jump over the punch, hands slapping down on the metal arm and arms creaking with the force of his movements to throw himself forward and down, moving in even closer to the mech in order to dodge another massive fist jackhammering towards him. Where before Mecha-Might had swung faster and harder than any other man Izuku had ever heard of, now it's attacks were a hurricane of flying metal, its red eye strobing with each swing, the shockwaves evening out to a hum that made Izuku think of the rapid beating of a hummingbird's wings.

"_Yoͅu̢ ̗ne̩e͜d̡ to ̳e͟nd̢ ̝th̘is. Fa̜st̩.͕ ̩I ͈don'̳t͕ ͉t̠hin͉k ͜y͕o͇uṛ body̙ ca̗n͕ ha̪n͟dle th̜e a̲mo̩u̠nt ̩of͉ st͍r̮a̯i̱-̱ ̰DO͖D͚G͍E͙!_ _"_

Izuku didn't even pay any mind to the backseat driver in his head as he rolled away from another barrage of fists from the being of steel. He was barely able to turn his dodge into a roll up and away from the impact of a two-handed hammer blow from the machine, the fists cratering the concrete of the arena, throwing more debris up in its wake.

Izuku huffed as he brought his arms up to guard, eyes darting to look at where he was; back against the limits of the ring with Mecha-Might towering in front of him.

_Talk about cornered…_

* * *

Midnight was glued to the edge of her… podium watching the fight. It was only the light in the two contestants' eyes that made her allow the entrance of the mech, and right now, she was _loving _every second of it.

Well, she was, until Izuku got cornered. _I really shouldn't be taking sides on this but, c'mon Midoriya!_

" Looks like Midoriya has been cornered! " Mics voice broke though as the mech threw another punch. " IS THIS THE END ON THE LINE FOR THE LONE MAN OF THE HERO COURSE? "

* * *

Miruko was surprised to see Inko and Yagi jump next to her as they roared in their side of the stadium.

"KICK HIS ASS, IZUKU!"

* * *

_Dammit, I can't keep this up._

The mechanical fists of Mecha-Might slammed down in unison to the thought, forcing him to reach up, hands braced and body tense as he caught them, the tightening of his grip digging into the heated steel of the robots fists. Slowly, the sheer weight of the robot bore down on him with the squealing of overworked servos, slowly making Izuku stutter and tense under the assault, his legs and arms shaking and slowly beginning to buckle.

_Ok, fuck it. Give me EVERYTHING you got._

_"I'͕lͅl̮ ̡t͍r̫-"_

The voice faded before it could finish its statement, getting cut off as he dropped straight from normal thoughts deep into the flow state, pupils dilating as his brain went into overdrive, along with his heart as the floodgates of adrenaline opened up.

The world around him slowed like a projector stuck on half a frame per second. Senses began to fade out, blocking away anything that he couldn't use, that he didn't need.

His bare hands started to gather data, information traveling from synapse to synapse even as the grinding of gears and the straining of motors all but mapped out the mechs internal structure.

It wasn't as easy as it once was. Mei was many things, but not stupid. She had learned from the way he first fought the mech, from his first win. The structure of the robot was astonishing. Complex honeycombed supports reinforced its platings, the interlocking joints thick and robust, with enough strength that the robot could probably stop a train with them.

But for all that Mei was an engineer, Izuku was no fool either.

His mind focused, cutting through the chaff. The reinforcements were too tough to fight, the arms and legs and torso reinforced to hell and back…

But Mei had kept the head almost the same. The thick plated neck had been leagues ahead of the rest of the bot before, but with this new design. The best of the old was lacking.

He felt his arms begin to buckle more, the slow motion of muscles straining and being pushed by the sheer force of his opponent.

A thought struck of using One for All, but he dismissed it.

This was him, and Mecha-might. This was him _proving_ something.

As it was going through his memories, his brain grazed upon a fresh addition.

' _Now go and prove yourself.'_

And that made everything simple.

Oh so simple.

He let his left arm collapse, even as he buckled, turning a collapse into a lunge, lurching at the mech up close. Just as the machine was re-adjusting its footing, he ducked and rolled under, escaping between its legs, coming up in a crouch even as he felt every muscle in his body and legs tense.

In the next second he was airborne above the mech, spinning with the intent to decapitate.

Mecha-Might did something he didn't account for in response, twisting a full 180 at the waist to counter him; his arm was pulled back, ready to release its payload of destructive force. Sparks flew from his armored frame as it scraped against itself, casting the motion in sharp contrast, even against the bright sunlight of the arena.

Almost on instinct, Izuku called out his attack, Mecha-Might doing the same, both parties grinning with vicious intent, one carved, the other forged.

"KAGUYA-" "**D̬͡Ẹ͒T͈̈́R̺̆O̡̽I̞Ṯ͝-̩̽**"

the world around them was washed out, the roar of the crowd, the shouts of Present Mics commentary. None of it mattered.

Izuku was twisting, contorting, every muscle stretching from his shoulders down through his hips and down his leg had contracted, tensed like springs and coiled tight. He could see the shifting steel, could make out the glacial pace of Mecha-Might's fist as it came up and around.

_Too slow._

"CRESCENT!" "**Ş̄T̠͗E͉̐E̲̕L͓̐!͎̇** **"**

He unwound, twisting as the heel of his red boot swung, meeting the steel face of Mecha-might with as much torque and force as he could generate, his muscles stretched and strained at the action, Flow reinforcing the way they all worked in sync, wringing every ounce of force he could from every fiber in his body.

Steel caved in, wires bent and sparked, The LED's of the bright red eye sparked, and with the sound of tearing steel, the head ripped free of its housing.

The fist, already seizing up and slowing without input from the rest of the mech, passed beneath Izuku as the recoil of the kick sent him twisting up. As his body curved, his sightline began to drop from the blue sky, and in the state of flow he could make it out. The crowd, the widening eyes of hundreds of women, the surprise on his classmates' faces, the look of shock in his mother's eyes, and the look of recognition of bright eyes surrounded by dark skin and silver hair.

It was one of Miruko's kicks after all, even if he had... adapted it a bit.

With that, time switched gears and his brain resumed normal operation dropping out of its flow state, the rest of his body twisting out of the full body curve of the strike as gravity took hold. Twisting, he brought his feet to the ground, boots skidding across cracked concrete panting heavily.

* * *

A wild grin grew across Mei's face as she saw Izuku decapitate Mecha-Might. The fight was all she had hoped for and more. "You did it!" She mimicked her reaction from the first time he had defeated the metal behemoth. Not as surprising as it once was, but somehow more impressive than the last time.

Izuku turned towards the sound, a lazy grin taking form on his face as he lifted his left arm just as he once did all those months ago "I did it." Mei responded with a quick hug to his waist.

"Uh, Mei, we're still fighting." he sighed, eyes looking to the bleachers waiting for a reaction, not even the rest of 1-A had reacted yet.

Mei quickly let go of him and took a step back. "Yeah, well then you better push me out of the ring, champ."

"You could just walk out…?"

"What kind of gentleman makes a lady walk?" She crossed her arms in mock scandal.

He blinked. "Really? Here- did Mina put you up to this?"

She didn't answer. She just stood there, grinning and staring expectantly. He rolled his eyes a bit and grabbed her by the waist and lifted the woman with ease, carrying her over to the edge of the battleground and plopping her down.

"Oh darn, I guess I lost." She hadn't stopped smiling since the fight began.

The whole stadium was still frozen in an eerie silence. "Hatsume is out-of-bounds Midoriya wins" Midnight mumbled, a hint of incredulity in her voice.

She slapped her face to wake herself up from the trance. "Hatsume is out-of-bounds! Midoriya wins!" As if her voice pulled them out of their own trances, the stadium erupted into cheers.

" MIDORIYA IZUKU WINS HIS BATTLE! WHEN WILL HE STOP?! CAN HE STOP?! ONLY TIME WILL TELL, LISTENERS! "

* * *

Miruko stumbled back to her seat, a slight blush flowering on her cheeks. _He did it…_

_He really used it…_

Her foot was tapping on the ground excitedly as she replayed the last scene in her head, over and over again. The measured movements that lead to his final strike derived from one of her most powerful attacks, living up to its name as it sheared through whatever metals that thing was built out of.

Izuku was really turning out to be something else.

UA was the right choice for him, and giving the go-ahead for him to use her moves was the right choice for her.

_Maybe I should teach him how to perfect that move..._

The thought alone brought out a smirk and a darker blush to her cheeks.

_Guess it's not teaming up if he is under me..._

As the torrent of thoughts started to subside, she noticed the light panting coming from her side, ears perking towards the source. The mother of the man that had taken her interest, wiping away tears with the blonde softly rubbing her back.

"I-I was so scared… that he was going to get hurt…"

Miruko smiled softly. "Don't worry about him. You have a strong son out there!"

The blonde chuckled softly. "Doesn't change the worry of a mother, Miruko-san."

Her ears flopped down a little at the response. "Well, can't argue with that…"

_Not that I would know..._

"B-but thanks...and I'll try to…" Inko smiled back at the pro hero. "I promised him, after all…"

* * *

Kamui Woods didn't blink, literally rooted to her spot next to Mt. Lady, who was equally as frozen. "Am I dreaming? Did he really…?"

Mt. Lady nodded softly, a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks. _When I take a second look at him… he isn't that bad looking…_

_And God, that strength… _The blonde flinched at the thought, shaking her head, _No- No nono he is just an upstart punk. Nothing more- _the feed replayed the last attack between the two fighters in slow motion. Giving her ample view of his muscles contorting under his clothes, and the green inferno of his eyes staring down the machine. _N-n-nothing l-less…_

_God. _Her blush started enveloping her face fully. _DAMMIT._

Death Arms chuckled next to her "I know you hate the kid a little but should you really go red in the face with anger over his win?"

Mt. Lady nodded shakily. "Y-yeah anger- I am so mad right now, uh-huh…"

Death Arms blinked. "I-is she stroking out? Should I call Recovery Girl?"

Kamui woods didn't respond, on her knees. "I- I lectured that kid...to not be a hero…"

"You two worry me."

* * *

Mandalay blinked again as the fight concluded, the mech halting and falling to its side as Izuku plopped Mei outside the bounds.

"God, I want him to wrap his arms around me and lift me like that…" Three of the team of four turned to the source, Pixie-Bob, who was decidedly still in her dreamland, ignoring everything else in her surroundings.

Tiger groaned. "I'll beat some sense into her afterward."

Mandalay smiled softly. "Thanks, Tiger." _I mean I wouldn't mind him doing that to me either, but she shouldn't say it._

At the silence, Mandalay turned to look around and saw everyone staring at her, including her niece.

"Did I broadcast that?"

Ragdoll nodded, giggling as Pixiebob shot her a look of disgust. "At least I don't hide it, you _hypocrite _."

Ragdoll started rolling on the ground from laughing too hard. As the two teammates started throwing half-hearted verbal jabs at each other.

* * *

Endeavor hadn't blinked in what felt like minutes.

_That punk went toe-to-toe with that mechanical behemoth… and _**_decapitated _**_it?! He's that powerful _**_without_ **_a quirk?!_

Her anger spiked, her flames nearly turning blue, but then subsided as a thought struck her.

_His will is impressive. He moves like a well-seasoned hero and he's only 18. He dared to stand up to me in public… He is bold. Breaking him will be a challenge._

A toothy grin stretched across her features_ . But that just means he'll be that much more useful once I have._

_Perhaps Quirk Splicing was the wrong way to go about this…_

She turned and stomped away down one of the hallways, leaving the half-molten railing she had been gripping behind.

* * *

Mina was still trying to shake off the result of the previous fight as she walked up to the podium. She knew Izuku had physical strength in spades, considering how easy he had lifted half the class up in more than one occasion, but that last kick was definitely something else.

_And that was all without even using his quirk to its full extent..._

_And he still blushes like a tomato around me… _She smiled as she recalled how meek and shy he got around her. It was flattering really.

" AND HER OPPONENT! THE GODLY WOMAN OF CLASS 1-B! SHIOZAKI IBARA! "

Mina looked on as Ibara walked up, glaring daggers at the announcer booth; she swore she was mumbling curses under her clasped hands.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ashido Mina!" She shot her opponent a charming smile. "Ready to dance?"

"I would much prefer not to-" Ibara lamented, looking up to her opponent finally "but I am prepared for it."

Midnight cracked her whip "START!"

Mina was about to start running before vines sprouted from the ground with impressive power and speed, the light fading as they wrapped her tightly in a cocoon. " Oh wow, no wonder she got in."

She cracked a smile in the darkness and let her acid start seeping out of every pore on her body. "Guess wearing the acid-proof stuff underneath was a good call after all!"

The vines hissed and crackled, acid eating through them with ease, along with her uniform, sunlight greeting her once again. "Looks like our quirks don't mix well, Shiozaki." The look of shock on her and Midnight's faces was more than enough to make her smile.

Then, with a few practiced motions from her legs, she slid her way in front of Ibara, the corrosive acid she had previously coated herself with flying off from her body as she did so. Her arm pulled back for an uppercut, "LET ME SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH!"

Ibara couldn't find words to react before the full force of Mina's fist hit her chin, her body going slack and tumbling back like a sack of potatoes.

She huffed, trying to ignore the draftiness and tingling of her skin.

"Shiozaki Ibara is unconscious! The winner is Ashido Mina!" Mina smiled at the verdict, placing her palms on her hips with pride.

Then, as she turned to leave the arena, her eyes caught Izuku in the audience blushing lightly as he stared at her body, which was clad only in what amounted to a leopard pattern bikini. Her smile turned teasing as she stopped to blow a kiss in his direction, causing him to blush harder.

_Oh, now _**_that_ **_is adorable._

* * *

Momo took her time on the walk from the waiting room to her entry point, mind racing as she reviewed possible strategies for her upcoming fight.

_I don't know anything about this girl's quirk, so I should try to finish things quickly. But I'll be sure to make a shield for myself just in case._

"AND WE ARE BACK FOR THE FOURTH MATCHUP OF THIS TOURNAMENT!" Present Mic's voice broke through her thoughts and she could feel the familiar chill of anxiety and doubt welling inside her.

_NO! Snap out of it, Momo. _She straightened her back and took a deep, calming breath. _You've got a promise to keep. The other two kept their promise! I need to show them that we are on equal footing!_

"ON THE NORTH SIDE, THE PRINCESS OF CREATION WHO HAS LITERALLY BLASTED HER WAY THROUGH THE COMPETITION, YAOYOROZU MOMO!"

A broad smile stretched across her features as she strode onto the field catching Izuku and Ochako watching her from the corner of her eye, as she watched her opponent approach from the other side.

"AND ON THE SOUTH SIDE, THE RESIDENT INSOMNIAC FROM GEN ED, SHINSO HITSUKI!"

She locked eyes with the purple-haired woman, recognizing her more fully from the day she'd come to 'size up the competition.' _She doesn't seem physically strong from what I can see. But, that might be due to her quirk, I need to be on the lookout for anything._

From atop her podium, Midnight raised her whip. "Contestants ready?"

"Ready!" "Ready."

"Match! Start!" The crack of the heroine's whip echoed through the stadium.

"Hey!" The woman's voice sounded tired as she called across the ring. "May the best hero win!"

Momo couldn't help but admire the sportsmanship this woman was showing, and she bowed respectfully. "Likewi-"

* * *

"She's just standing there…" Ochako's voice muffled on, doused in worry.

Izuku rubbed his eyes, trying to see if there was the familiar light of her creating something.

There wasn't

"What is she doing?" Ochako half screamed. The two watched as their mutual girlfriend simply turned on her heel and started walking towards the edge of the ring.

"MOMO!"

* * *

Mai flinched at the sudden flood of deja vu, watching Momo's stance turn lifeless, remembering bits and pieces of what happened in the paintball match.

"Hey you are from 1-A right?" her mind echoed out, recalling _that voice_

"Yea-" she remembered her body going limp, before she'd even finished her response.

"Grab the rifles, we're going to win this." And her body obeyed the foreign voice.

The last thing that had passed through her mind was Mic screaming ten seconds, and Shinsou grabbing the rifle out of one of her dupli-hands.

"Lose for me, if you would." her body went limp again, dropping the other rifle to her side.

Then the sensation of electric arcing through her body as several paintballs hit her back.

Mai's hand found its place over her eyes. "Yaoyorozu... she already lost…" She didn't want to see what happened next.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I have to win."

_I….I can't move. Wh-what's going on?_

The sounds of the stadium seemed muted, as though she was hearing them through a pair of headphones, playing her opponent's voice clearly in her mind.

"Turn around, and walk out of bounds."

She watched in horror as her body began to obey the command. Her limbs not even responding to her slightest command no matter how hard she tried. _What am I doing? I-I'm…_

_I'm going to lose…I'm going to break my promise…_

_Please! Just move! Why won't you listen to me!?_

The edge of the ring drew closer with each agonizing step. She could hear Izuku and Ochako screaming her name. She could hear the bewildered voice of Present Mic through the speakers.

She could hear Midnight as she announced her defeat.

Suddenly, the grip her opponent had on her body lifted, causing her to stumble as she regained control of her legs. She panted, gripping her knees as the stomach-churning sensation of being a passenger in her own body faded. She spared a glance only to see Hitsuki's back as she exited the arena. Not even looking back at her.

_I… I don't even deserve a look back... _ She forced herself to keep her head up as she walked back out of the arena, hoping the slight tremor to her shoulders was not visible. _Izuku was wrong… I really don't deserve to be here…_

The moment she was safely out of the arena, she let her emotions start to show, tears flowed free as her shoulders slumped, hands furiously trying to wipe away the liquid dripping down her face. With her back against the wall, she slid to the floor.

Her sobs echoed down the empty hallways.


	37. The start of healing

The bleachers in 1-A's section were silent as overwhelming darkness started to seep out from both Izuku and Ochako as they listened into the announcement of Momo's defeat.

Neiro obviously did not get the message.

"Things are not looking good for 1-A are they?" She taunted over the wall separating the two classes. "Your best just walked right off the ring without even fighting back! She must've known she couldn't even win against a… General…" Her taunts crawled to a halt as both of Momo's secret lovers' eyes slowly creaked towards the obnoxious source.

Neiro quickly realized she made a mistake as the combination of brown and green eyes stared deep into her soul, clearly wanting to tear something apart.

And after Izuku's show of power against the metal monster, she doubted that he would have more trouble plucking her head off her shoulders then anyone would have plucking a stem off an apple.

"Talking pretty big for someone that didn't even make it to the last event, _extra _," Katsumi shot back, trying to diffuse the situation wither her own brand of de-escalation.

She turned to Izuku, poking him on the shoulder. "You should go back there and talk with High-Class."

He didn't respond verbally, possibly not trusting his voice just yet, and simply nodded, getting up to track down where Momo was in the bowels of the stadium, with Ochako following closely behind.

" The next contestants are Kirishima Eiko and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu "

* * *

Momo flinched as she heard footsteps making their way towards her. She quickly rubbed her eyes, trying to look like she hadn't just been bawling her eyes out for the oncoming guests. _It's Eiko's turn, isn't it?... I should wish her luck…_

As she rose from the side of the wall she had slid down on her way to the ground, her sorrow hid successfully for the moment, her visitors rounded the corner.

Momo gasped as she felt her weight disappear, Ochako crashing into her and hugging her tightly.

Uraraka wasn't in the frame of mind to avoid touching her with all 5 of her fingers. Momo looked up from the brown bob shoved into her chest at the other visitor. She felt her stomach begin to twist in grief once more.

"What happened out there?" Izuku muttered out, his face frozen in a neutral expression. Even then she could see his eyes burning with something. _Probably disappointment…_

"I… I broke my promise." She huffed out as she looked away, not returning Ochako's hug nor Izuku's gaze. She could feel her eyes start to tear up again, but she adamantly refused to cry. _Not in front of them…_

She saw Izuku flinch from the corner of her eye, and felt Ochako flinch against her.

"I don't deserve to be in a-"

Mei crashed into her and her argument like a cruise missile, causing both her and Ochako to tumble onto the floor as her arms found their way around the two of them. "FOUND YOU!"

Momo couldn't handle the bold show of affection and tried to push away from the two of them "S-stop it- why are you hugging me? I lost! I couldn't even fight back!" Her eyes were wet with unshed tears already "I- I don't…"

Izuku closed the gap finally, bending down and easily picking up the three on the floor with a hug, adding pressure to the hug until he felt confident that they could feel his warmth enveloping them, in addition to the pleasant pressure of a hug. "Because we love you."

Momo's resolve finally failed and she started crying again. "WHY? Why do you..." She sniffled, voice cracking slightly as she continued "I- I couldn't even fight! I was a failure in every aspect, why would amazing people like you…"

The three hugging her slowly let go, but she remained floating in the air as Ochako's quirk was still active. She felt exposed, hovering in front of all of their gazes.

"Are you kidding me?" Mei broke the silence, staring incredulously at Momo as she curled up in shame. "Momo you came second place in the first event! You were in the top six of the second event!" She folded her arms across her chest. "How is that not just_amazing _?!"

Izuku chuckled sadly. "Oh, so this is how you guys feel when I call myself an idiot?" He shook his head as he reached forward and gently pulled Momo by the head to look at him. "Momo, you created a gun from the atoms-up during a _race. _How are you not seeing how amazing that is just on its own? And before you claim it's ' _just your quirk' _, No. It wasn't, and we _all _know that."

"Just cause you lost doesn't change who or what you are, Momo," Ochako added from his side, shrugging slightly. "We still love you, and that's not gonna change over something as simple as you losing in a battle… we aren't that shallow."

The sounds of metal clashing and grinding against stone echoed throughout the halls as the match started in the main hall, breaking the silence caused by Ochako's declaration.

"B-but I-" Momo tried to argue back grabbing Izuku's hands and pulling them away to look at Ochako. "I couldn't even fight bac-"

"So?" Mei shoved her way into the argument. "Did you see me fighting against Izuku?"

"B-but that's-"

"Momo, did you forget what you told me at the beach?" Ochako pulled her attention back. "Not everyone fights the same way, you know this."

"I…" She stopped resisting and used Izuku as an anchor point to lower her feet back onto the ground. "I remember…"

Izuku stared down at her, thinking silently as the other two kept bringing up valid points to try and get her to accept that she was just being too hard on herself.

"She has a mind control quirk, doesn't she?"

The light arguing stopped at his question.

"I think so… I just said 'likewise' and control left my body…" Momo looked down at the floor again, shoulders slumping. "I am a-"

"That Trojan-Horse-ass daughter of a bitch!" Mei screeched, face shifting in rage for the first time since _Izuku _had met her.

"M-Mei?" He mumbled out, taking a step back, along with Ochako and Momo.

"Izuku you gotta beat the shit out of her!" She took a few steps forward, closing the distance the others had made. "Show that system hijacker that shit won't go unpunished!"

"W-what?" Ochako questioned, half-hiding behind Momo, who herself was sporting a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks.

"Izuku! Explain!" Mei commanded simply, huffing and pouting slightly, still grumbling something under her breath.

"Oh- Ohhh Trojan horse…" He sighed blinking. "That's a good analogy… Momo, I am guessing you responded to something she said with 'likewise' right?"

With Mei's anger dissipating, Ochako and Momo relaxed a bit, turning to Izuku and listening to his reasoning.

"Y-yeah She said 'may the best hero win' and I said 'likewise'," Momo responded with a nod, trying to connect the dots. Honestly, the match seemed to be turning from a solid memory to more of a dream she was trying to recall as time passed.

"That's how her quirk works, exactly like a trojan-horse type of virus." Izuku pointed out slamming his fist down on an open palm, "Her voice is the 'data' your brain processes. That 'data' basically acts as a carrier for the 'computer virus'..."

"And me responding verbally activates it, letting her take over my motor functions…" Momo finished the rest, hanging her head down.

"So my own incompetence made me lose the ma-"

"Would you stop with that?" Ochako huffed from her side with a small pout. "From that explanation, the only way you could have won was if you already knew what her quirk was."

Momo opened and closed her mouth as she failed to see how to argue against that.

"You lost cause we didn't know someone's quirk that we didn't have time to research on…" Izuku rubbed his chin again "It's a learning experience, as heroes we won't always know what we are fighting against… that's what we are here for, to learn."

"To be heroes." Ochako added, smiling softly "and that hasn't changed at all Momo"

Momo couldn't help but grow a soft smile at that declaration.

* * *

When the three returned to their seats, Mei dashing off to her own section, they witnessed the continuing fight between the two similarly quirked women.

Izuku took a mental note of how shiny Tetsutetsu looked. _Some kind of metal transformation? Wonder if the malleability of metals lets her be more agile than Eiko? _

The match had been going on for a while, both sides panting with exhaustion as the stalemate dragged on.

He perked up as both started screaming about a final attack the other shouldn't dodge, getting their second wind.

Metal against something rough and hard was something Izuku had gotten used to hearing, but even then the hardened fists clashing sent caused the hair on his neck to stand on its end as the screeching noise reverberated through the air.

Then the clash_ shifted _.

Unlike his clashes with Mecha Might, Eiko's and Tetsutetsu's fists were similarly sized

Meaning it was easier for their fists to push past each other in a clash.

And they did.

Eiko's fist found its way to Tetsutetsu's face, and Tetsutetsu's fist shot against her ribcage, both contestants stumbling back.

"ITS A CROSS COUNTER!" Mic announced with energy only a radio DJ could produce.

Tetsutetsu shook her face, the metal covering her face that blocked the last punch fading away as she did so. Eiko was rubbing her side doing the same.

_...huh… _Izuku blinked at the thought that passed through his mind _Eiko said her quirk was like flexing a muscle… does that mean she could harden her breasts… since that's not musculature…_

_"Ho̥w ̥aṟe ̙you͎ ̞t̠hink͙in̫g ̖a̱bo̠uṭ ̱ti̟t̬s̻ ͍i̫ṉ a non̻sex͟u̗a̮l ͔w͉a̞y?̘"_

_I- shutup its a valid question!_

_"Su̟u͙uu̮uu̺r̥e,̼ ci̤nnaṃǫn̦ ̮roll"_

_Wh-_

Before he could argue back something took his attention back. _Is that the sound of tearing fabri..._

Eiko wasn't rubbing the area, she was trying to hold something in place.

That something being the binder under her tracksuit.

Her efforts were in vain.

Tetsutetsu paused for a second as Eiko's chest shifted slightly, then exploded, filling the tracksuit to near-bursting.

The whole stadium paused for a second.

Kyoka mumbled an "_ are you fucking kidding me? _"

Momo blushed, remembering that first time in the showers that she had realized that Eiko was the bustiest out of anyone in the class, barely passing Momo in size.

She could still hear Minerva whining about how unfair it all was.

Izuku was currently choking on his own spit. _She had _**_those_ **_bound up this entire time?!_

Eiko capitalized on the shock the reveal of her endowment made, clumsily moving in for the finisher as she tried to compensate for the sudden shift in her center of mass. "THE MATCH IS FAR FROM OVER!"

Tetsutetsu, who was just as stunned as the rest of the audience, barely had time to respond as she came to her senses at the last minute, crossing her arms in a last-ditch effort to defend herself.

She couldn't block the full force of the punch and got knocked down hard, her swift connection with the ground and subsequent loss of consciousness sealing the deal.

Midnight's voice broke everyone's trance "Tetsutetsu has been knocked out! Kirishima wins!"

* * *

Saiko took a sip of her thermos as the crowd cheered, her opponent taking her spot on the other side of the ring.

Asui Tsuyu, quirk; Frog body. If her observations were accurate...

She smiled grimly. They were always accurate. And this wasn't going to be easy.

Midnight rose her whip up. "You know the rules! Let's skip the foreplay! MATCH! START!"

Her strong legs burst into action, zig-zagging in a pattern she thought the frog-like woman could follow, her tongue hitting against the concrete mere inches from her leg. She thanked the heavens her body seemed to have picked up muscle mass easy, no way she could've even remained in this fight with barely a year of training otherwise.

Her fighting style had blossomed into one of observation then action; targeting weak points.

Tsuyu had none she could see.

_Damn- what was a Frog's natural predator again- I should- _

Tsuyu used her tongue to pull herself forward, closing the gap between them, her eyes hardened as a plan kicked into motion.

* * *

"IT'S A GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE MY DEAR LISTENERS!" Mic cheered in the booth "OR SHOULD I SAY FROG AND-" Aizawa proceeded to smack her upside the head, silencing the weird comparison before it left her lips.

"Her motions are erratic, in a way no person would usually move in. It's making it harder for Asui to guess where she is going, not to mention her taller frame making it easier for Intelli to speed past the tongue... It's a good strategy, but it won't last the entire match if she can't get a full hit in."

Tsuyu tried closing the gap once again, using her tongue as a grappling hook to rush towards her opponent.

Aizawa smirked under her scarf and bandages as Saiko's motions changed. _Heh… nice strategy, kid._

_But, you are gonna need more than that to keep up. Vlad should've taught you that much._

* * *

She only had one chance at this.

Saiko suddenly stopped and tried to act out flinching, staggering any reason for Tsuyu to think she wasn't in the best of shape.

She needed to surprise her with this.

Just as Tsuyu was about to reach her anchor point, Saiko lunged. Closing the distance and slamming her foot down onto Tsuyu's back pinning her under her weight. "That's your center of gravity," she panted, leaning onto her leg further. "You won't be able to get up..."

"Intelli-chan" The frog croaked under her weight, voice still clear even as her tongue was sticking out. "How powerful do you think my tongue is?"

"..." Saiko sighed. "This battle was decided even before I was in the ring, wasn't it?"

"...Sorry." Tsuyu ribbited in response, pulling herself with her tongue, out from under Saiko's heel unbalancing her.

Before she put too much distance between them she halted herself with her large hands, legs pulled back to-

Saiko managed to raise her arms in a cross to block, but against Tsuyu's strong legs it didn't even matter, the impact slamming her into her like a truck, taking her off the ground and into the air.

* * *

"...Frogs are scary," Izuku repeated as Tsuyu's tongue wrapped around Saiko even before she touched the ground, swinging her out of the ring. And onto the softer grass surrounding it.

"MATCH SET, Asui Tsuyu wins!" Midnight announced, raising her arm.

"That was a bad match-up…" Izuku sighed, leaning further into his seat.

"Guess there is only so much she could do without support items, considering her quirk…" Momo mumbled.

He and Ochako nodded, looking at the ring with Katsumi and Kyoka standing and staring at each other, ready to battle.

Ochako leaned over to him with a worried expression on her face.. "... I think this one might be even worse when it comes to match-ups..."

"MATCH! START!"

Kyoka sent out her jacks to attack, only for Katsumi to counter with a loud explosion, causing her to fall to her knees holding her ears, Izuku swore he could see blood dripping down from under her hands.

"I agree." He hummed sadly as Katsumi marched forward, pointing her palm to her face.

" I-I give " Jirou's voice echoed throughout the stadium

" Jirou admits defeat! Bakugou wins!"

* * *

Izuku shifted uncomfortably in his seat when Todoroki walked up to the stage, remembering the revelation she had shared with him just prior to the start of the final event. He noticed that even from here, her expression seemed… strained, and her body language, as much as he could see, screamed of anger.

" MATCH! START! "

With the roaring sound of crystal on stone, Shoko brought her foot down and with a gesture of her hand, the stadium was suddenly covered in ice before Pony could even begin use her quirk. The glacier reached for the heavens, coming close to the bleachers but not quite.

_" __W̳e a̹r͉e go̥i̙ņg̯ ̫a̖g͓ḁi̹nst̗ ̞ţh͉a̠t̪…? __"_

_Jesus…_

"Wow. Uh, Tsunotori Pony is incapacitated! Todoroki Shoko wins!"

* * *

Mina and Ochako looked at each other as the glacier was slowly taken care of. They were the next ones to fight as the second leg of the tournament began.

"C'mon 'Rara, show me what you're made of!" Mina cheered, dragging the other woman along by the arm. Izuku and Momo watched the scene with small smiles on their faces.

"Someone's excited…" he mumbled, looking back at the melting glacier. "Who do you think will win?"

Momo squirmed a bit on her seat "I think that's… not something we could guess"

Izuku hummed and leaned back "Fair enough, Mina's and Ochako's quirks don't quite negate each other, and Mina has mobility on her side"

"But considering Ochako's previous fight it won't help her much" Momo countered "but Mina has her Acid."

"So," he smiled, "it's gonna be a game of chicken."

"How so?" Momo asked, turning to face the now, crumbling glacier again.

"You'll see," was the only response he gave as the glacier collapsed completely.

* * *

Mina hopped from one foot to the other as she and Ochako waited for Midnight to officially start to match, excited out of her mind to finally get on with the fight, _and who knows, maybe I'll be fighting Izuku by the end._

Then she saw the focused and, honestly, _intimidating _look in Ochako's eyes, _...maybe not?_

"MATCH! START" Midnight snapped her whip and the two of them were off

Mina skated across the ring, trying to get close to Ochako and get in her blind spot. That, plus peoples' inherent wariness of acid would probably cause her to stay ba-

Ochako darted forward, her hand shooting out as she quickly closed the distance the moment Mina came near her. Her fingers touched her arm right beneath the sleeve of her newly replaced tracksuit.

"Oh, goddammit"

"Sorry, Ashido!"

Her weight disappeared as Ochako leaned in, grabbed tight, and spun. Suddenly, Mina was soaring out of the ring with no way to hold onto the ground nor propel herself back into the ring.

"Well. Shit," she grumbled with a pout, crossing her arms as Ochako deactivated her quirk causing her to drop outside of the ring.

"Ashido is out of bounds! Uraraka wins!"

* * *

"Oh, so that's what you meant…" Momo nodded as the results were announced.

"Mina was scared of using her quirk on human targets, with good reason" he sighed "and Ochako knew that she wouldn't use it on her…"

"I see…" Momo mumbled back, before glancing at her boyfriend. "Shouldn't you go and prepare for the next match?"

"I'm going, I'm going," he singsonged slightly with a soft chuckle, getting up from his seat.

"And Izuku!" Momo called out as he made it to the door. "Remember to not respond to her!"

* * *

He couldn't help but get a scowl as Hitsuki made her way to the ring, standing across from him with her hands stuffed in her pockets. Something about how nonchalant she had been was rubbing him the wrong way.

Midnight seemed to notice the tension between the two, making her announcement sound eerily quieter than normal "Match, start"

"May the best fighter win?" Hitsuki called out, her face scrunching up when she noticed that he wasn't going to respond. "She told you didn't she?" He kept staring at her. She shrugged.

"You know, we have a lot in common, you and I. My quirk wasn't good enough for the hero course, and you're here without one. We both had to do whatever we had to to get here, right? It's not fair, is it?" She threw her arms wide. "A man in a woman's world. A _villainous _quirk like mine in a heroic one."

Her arms fell to her side as her tone darkened, bitterness dripping from her every word. "We didn't have the world laid at our feet, not like that naive _bitch _I fought before, we had-" her monologue was cut short as Izuku finally spoke up.

"What the _fuck _did you just say?" Izuku took a step forward, his voice full of unyielding rage.

Hitsuki felt her quirk slither through his words and activate in the back of her mind._ Checkmate. _She stretched loosely, and looked to the sky, confident that she had already won.

"I said that we didn't have the world laid at our feet like that naive bitch I took down on the first round." She smiled, "I'm sorry for this, but could you step out of the ring for me? I know you have something to prove, but so do I."

"You have five seconds to apologize."

Hitsuki's eyes snapped back down to the man who just responded _back _to a command, head tilted forwards and expression cast in shadow by his hair.

"Turn around and walk out of the ring, _now _." Maybe he hadn't heard her, her quirk was active, she could feel it in her head. _What is going on?_

The man's foot raised up and took a step, cement groaning slightly under the force behind it.

A step forward.

"**Five**."

"W-wait, what?"


	38. And the anger of a gentle man

Izuku was expecting many things during the match.

Unbridled_ rage _was not one of them.

A section of his brain had been taken over, he could _feel _that, but he didn't give a damn.

Right now… right now he had a skull to crush.

He took another step that was unnecessarily forceful, the stomp causing the ring to wobble slightly under the pressure.

"**FOUR.**"

* * *

"I-Izuku?" Momo mumbled, watching her boyfriend almost split the arena in half with a single step forward. "W-what's happening? Why isn't he getting mind controlled?"

"M-maybe it's his quirk?" Ochako answered, unable to tear her eyes away from the ring.

"Jesus…" Mina shivered from behind the two. "Baka-gou have you ever seen him so pissed?"

"Lilac bitch is fucked," was the only response Katsumi gave.

"S-standing up for your friends is so manly t-though!" Eiko added, shaking in her seat slightly.

With his facial features hidden by shadows, Izuku looked _terrifying _.

"Remind me to never, ever diss one of Midoriya's friends, _please _," Minerva muttered to Tsuyu who was staring at the arena with her mouth slightly agape.

She nodded slowly.

* * *

Toshiko blinked at the stage "...Midoriya?" She could feel his rage from there, and considering Miruko's perked ears, she could too.

"Cold, calculating anger," the rabbit hero smirked, "not the best thing for a hero, but he's not ranting or raving in a blind rage."

"Not a bad thing for a hero to have either."

"It will be bad if he _kills _her!" Toshiko rebuked, huffing lightly.

"Don't worry, my son wouldn't do something like that," Inko shot back.

"I- I think…"

* * *

The voice was panicking.

Whatever the Hitsuki's quirk was, it had failed spectacularly.

It was blocking and activating the same circuitry that normally would have locked off consciousness from the motor functions of any human brain and brought them under her command.

Removing their free will.

The only problem was, Izuku's brain was wired differently than any other human as a result of Total Command doing its best to patch up his dying grey matter after the USJ.

Currently, Shinsou's quirk was blocking Izuku's inhibitory system, preventing it from calming down the rage that was building in him.

Removing logic aside and letting him do what he felt like doing.

"_ Uh̗…̫ ̯I͍zuku?̥ _"

_Give me three more seconds._

_"O̧h͙…̨ sh̯i̠t"_

* * *

"I- I SAID STOP!" Hitsuki screamed as Izuku took another step forward, his green irises shining through the shadows cast over his face by his hair.

He looked like a monster from a nightmare.

"**THREE**."

She gulped and took a step back, fearing what was to come. Even the umpire was looking wary.

Midnight shook the urges of a pro-hero that were screaming inside her from the bloodlust emanating from the ring.

From Izuku.

"R-remember, you cannot murder…"

Izuku's head snapped at her, as he took another heavy step forward, then slowly turned back to Hitsuki.

"**TWO…**"

Something about his voice finally activated the full extent of the lilac-haired girls' fight or flight instincts.

"I SAID STOP"

She punched him.

Punched him with all the might her body could generate under the influence of the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

He didn't even react as her fist smacked against his chest.

She yelled in pain and pulled her arm back, grabbing her throbbing forearm.

His body hadn't budged.

She had punched what amounted to a brick wall.

"W-wait! STOP. No... no no no no…"

Hitsuki looked up to see his green eyes glaring down at her.

"What the fuck are yo-"

"**One.**"

Izuku's hand surged forward, fingers knitting through her lilac locks with ease and clamping tightly around her skull.

Then.

He squeezed.

* * *

The stadium remained silent; they had been since the countdown began.

Neiro was scared out of her mind. _O-oh God, I knew it._

_That man from 1-A was a villain all along._

_Now he's gonna tear her head off._

* * *

Mei was sweating.

The human skull could take 500 kg of force before it fractured.

Izuku could produce more than that without straining.

And he was _pissed _.

_I know I told you to beat the shit out of her but this is overkill!_

* * *

He lifted Hitsuki up by her head with ease. Slowly adding pressure as he did so.

"You claim to have such a _villainous _quirk, yet you depend so heavily on it." His voice was a deep growl, a far cry from his usual meeker tone. "And you stand there, judging others on your ivory pedestal. A martyr of society."

Hitsuki panted under the pressure, struggling against his hand and gripping onto his arm to alleviate the strain on her neck.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of his.

They were swimming with rage.

"Such garbage," he spat, her continued kicks to his chest not even affecting his tone. "You are here to be a hero yet all you do is spite others for having 'better' quirks. Doing nothing to better _yourself _."

He added more pressure to his grip and Hitsuki started to feel faint from the increasing pain caused by the pressure against her brain.

"Just cause _you've _had it rough doesn't mean the rest of us are having it _any _easier."

He pulled her closer to his face. Staring right into her eyes, as if he could see straight into her soul.

"No one got here without sacrifice and hard work. **Get. Over. Yourself.**"

He added more pressure and Hitsuki finally succumbed to unconsciousness, going limp in his hands as the pain became unbearable.

He let her crumple down on the ring floor.

The stadium let out a collective sigh of relief.

" S-Shinsou Hitsuki is unconscious… M-Midoriya Izuku wins. "

He shook his head slightly as her quirks affect got cut off, releasing the blocked-off portion of his brain. It starting to attempt to get a handle on his exposed rage.

He proceeded to stomp out of the ring slowly, grumbling under his breath.

* * *

Mt. Lady was petrified at the scene; Kamui Woods and Death Arms were in identical states as they all stared at the hologram relaying the feed from the ring.

"How… how the fuck did he even do that?" Mt. Lady finally asked.

"Enough pressure on the skull will knock anyone out… I've done it before..." Death Arms mumbled in a haze.

"Huh… the more you know," Kamui muttered back.

* * *

Momo felt… weird.

She told herself that she should feel _relieved _, or _happy _that Izuku had 'defended her honor'.

But she didn't.

Instead, she felt hollow. Hollow that she couldn't be the one to beat the opponent that dispatched her with ease.

Someone that Izuku put the fear of God in by just _walking _at her.

_He took her down, even with her quirk, even with just taking the attacks…_

_Yet she took me down with such ease…_

Her lips tugged downwards as she realized exactly what she was feeling.

She felt inadequate.

The hollowness she felt only deepened at her revelation.

The world faded out around her as she gazed down.

_Maybe I am just inadequate…_

She started going through the vivid memories of her classmates beating the villains at the USJ, Izuku's brush with death, and Ochako's combat prowess.

Looking through all of that, it was painfully obvious.

_I really am just inadequate…_

Then, her brain touched another memory, one that still took her breath away

* * *

"If you got here, you deserve to be here- don't let your own doubt say otherwise." The inferno grew larger in him, and she could finally breathe again as he looked away, his grip tightening around the counter

"If you listen to that voice, you'll only go around in circles."

* * *

Her spirit set her self pity and doubt aflame; using them as kindling to nurture the rapidly growing inferno of determination.

_The first thing you said to me... Yet it took this long for me to listen to it..._

She looked back at the ring with a fire burning behind her grey eyes.

_It's never too late to catch up, though, is it?_

* * *

Izuku stomped his way through the depths of the stadium, trying to calm himself down before he lost control over his anger again and went back to squeeze some more sense into Hitsuki.

Considering who he came across, maybe it would have been better if he did.

"You."

The grating voice of the number 2 hero echoed through the hallway.

Izuku groaned, turning to look at her with agitation evident on his face. "What."

"You are to marry my daughter." She casually ordered him as if she was talking to a barista about her coffee.

Izuku's agitation turned to fury, revving the activity of his recently overworked limbic system as he repeated himself. "_ What? _"

"She was engineered to surpass All Might. My perfect creation... But with your genes…" She was staring at him like she was appraising him "Your daughter would make All Might but a mere _footnote _in Hero history."

Her eyes were almost manic at the prospect. "Can you even imagine? The _perfect _hero!"

He tilted his head down and took a step forward, intending to intimidate the raving hero.

Neither reacted fully as their chests pushed against each other. Emerald eyes glaring into turquoise ones unflinchingly.

"What do you think your daughter is? Just a pawn to further your desires?" His voice was cold enough to remind Endeavor of the ice of her daughter and wife.

"But, you are right. Most heroes of our time will become footnotes in history books." He took a step to the side and stomped past the pro, not looking back as he walked away. "But I'm sure **you** won't even be _mentioned _."

With that, he walked off, Endeavor staring at his back as a cruel grin grew across her face. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the phantom sensation of contact on her chest lingered.

_Oh, he is _**_perfect_ **_. And if Shoko proves not to be woman enough for him…_

_I'll just have to break him for myself._

* * *

_"Goo͜d ͖wo͓rk͙ ̠ba̻ckͅ ̝th̳er̗e…͖"_

_What, with the poor excuse of a parent, or the person too spiteful for her own dream? _He huffed internally as he continued his casual stroll to calm his mind.

_"B̦o͔t̞h̬ ̢ṟe̝al̫ly, ̰Į ͜wa̧s̟ sca͈red̳ ̡y͚ou ̪we̩re̻ g̪onna a̠c̖t̞ua̗l͕ly͜ mu͉r͇de͉r t̪ha̻t purple͓ h̳a̙i͈re͟d ̡on̻e." _He could feel the voice 'shrug' inside his head.

It was fascinating how simply talking to her increased his 'perception' of her, making her almost animated with her gestures even as he had no mental image to attach the gesture to.

_Thought you knew everything I did? You should know I wouldn't do that._

_"We̺l̬l… yḛa̟h,̼ ̯I ̺w͇a͍s̳ ̘ju̟s͚t k̼i̺n̢d̲a ̦s͙ca̝r̢e̞d ͍wh̦en͉ I ͜fe̫l̘t͇ ̮y̫our̦ ̢in̟hibi̝t͕i̬o͉ns ͅg̼e̺t t̪ur̬ne̪d̦ ̩o͜ff͕."_

_Oh, so that was the part that got turned off then…_

He continued his walk, turning the opposite way from the place where 1-A was sitting..

_"Ḩey̹,̗ ̱a͍reͅn̡'t̳ w̖e ͇g̬o̞ing͜ ͕t̤he̱ ̼w̞r͚o̱nͅg̯ ͚w̤ay̨?"_

_I wanna walk a bit to calm myself down first…_

_"Oh͇, ͖ri̪ght͕.̗ G̝o̪o̠d͎ ͙c͈al̹l…̞"_

He continued his walk in physical and mental silence down the halls, watching the off-white paint as his feet carried him forward, his previously overacting limbic system finally calming down.

_Hey- uh, what should I call you? _He questioned in the moment of solitude; it was weird talking to _someone _in his head yet not having a name to call them by.

He felt her thinking for a bit, _"N͉a̺n̞a̢…̮" _she mumbled then nodded, _"Yo̖u̲ ̰can cal̫l̦ ͈m͕e̟ Nana͈,̧ ̞I f̤e͚e͚l li̫k̮e t͎h̞at̞ ̼was͈ my͎ ͔n͔ame̱- ͅo͎u̪r n̜a̳me?"_

He chuckled a bit. _Well, you seem to be one 'being' right now, so no need to confuse yourself over that…_

_"I'͔m̧ ̡st̞u͇ck i͕ns̥ide̠ t͇he̻ ̫ḩe̟a͖d̰ ̖of͚ ͉a̙ṉ 1̯8̝-̧year̬-o͉ld, ͖wh̥y ̣ṣh̟oul̝ḍņ'̗t̜ ̞I b̰e͙ ̻c̟on̫f̯usͅed̗ ̗c̞o̼nstan̙tly?"_

_Touche._

"Green?"

Izuku stopped in his tracks as the voice broke the silence he had found himself in. He turned to the source. "Kyoka?"

* * *

"So you feeling alright?" he mumbled as the two of them made their way back to the 1-A seats, deciding that yeah, he was calm enough now.

"A little bit of tinnitus never hurt anyone," she joked back hollowly.

Izuku's pointed stare urged her to continue.

"Relax, you big softie, there's no permanent damage or anything. If I didn't know any better, I would've guessed Baka-gou was holding back." She shrugged a bit, something in her voice setting Izuku off.

"That was a bad matchup…" he hummed softly.

"I don't need pity, Izuku…" she huffed, looking away with a slight blush and a pout.

"Who said anything about pitying you?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow, looking at the back of her head.

"The 'bad match-up' part. What is that if not pity?" she huffed back, crossing her arms.

"Just telling you what we saw, pitting someone with super hearing against someone that can create loud explosions isn't quite the best match-up is it?" he explained.

"I-I guess?" She lowered her arms back down. "I just think I could have done better, I just _gave up _after the first att-"

The sudden sensation of his hand petting her head silenced her. "You did your best within your circumstances, Kyoka"

She made a soft sound, that was between a purr and an eep at the sudden contact and compliment.

Izuku pulled his hand back immediately. "S-sorry, did I overstep?"

"W-warn me before you do something like that!" she hissed softly. _Oh God, why did I make that sound?! _

"S-sorry…"

"I-it's fine… you can do it again i-if you want..." Her face reddened a few seconds later as she realized exactly what she had said.

"Alright…" He placed his hand back and slowly rubbed her head again, causing another soft mewl to escape her lips.

_W-why did I tell him it was ok… _she asked herself internally as she continued her futile attempts to hide just how much she was enjoying the contact.

* * *

" AND BAKUGO MANAGES TO WEAR DOWN KIRISHIMA, WINNING THE BATTLE! " Mic announced just as Izuku and Kyoka made it to the stands.

"Huh, missed the whole battle, then?" he mumbled as Shoko got up to leave for her own fight, passing by him with a slight glace that just felt heavier after the revelation she dumped on him recently. Not to mention her 'mother's' incessant orders at him.

"Oh, hey Izuku, quick question, _what the fuck _was that last battle?" Mina asked him as soon as he stepped close enough for the rest of his class to notice his presence.

"I… got kinda carried away when she said those things about Momo…" he mumbled weakly, rubbing the back of his head. "Plus her quirk apparently doesn't work on me properly, who could've guessed?"

"'Total Command' cancels out 'Brainwashing,'" Momo mumbled, "Should've guessed that would be the case honestly."

_I am guessing it was because of my rewired brain rather than that, but guess that's a good excuse…_

He blinked.

The class had grown quieter. Staring at him.

"Did I say that aloud?"

Ochako nodded slowly.

"I-Izuku… what do you mean, 'rewired brain'?" Momo stuttered out.

"I- hm…" He took the final steps to his seat and let himself crash onto it. "Remember the USJ?"

"Don't say that like any of us could forget that hell…" Doi muttered, shivering slightly.

"Remember how I, uh, _'died' _for a little while?" he whispered grimly.

"N-no you couldn't have…" Tomoyo gasped.

He chuckled sadly. "Turns out, not being able to breathe for longer than six minutes isn't healthy for human brains." He knocked on his own skull. "This guy took a beating when that happened, but thankfully Total Command was there to keep it from becoming fatal."

"W-what does that mean?" Ochako asked from his side, barely keeping herself from hugging him fully. She hadn't known just how close they had come to his death.

"My quirk used the surviving neurons to jury-rig a working human brain out of the half or so that survived, causing most of the wiring to change- it's fine now though, you don't need to worry about it!" He shot a smile back at his classmates. "The lost grey matter is back and all, it's all good…" He shut his mouth as he saw the looks he was getting.

"Half your brain _died _?!" Hana exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us this was happening?" Mina mumbled, eyes shadowed by her hair.

"I-I didn't want to worry you guys?" He blinked and his shoulders slumped "I- it's not like I didn't trust you or anything… it's just... " He twiddled his thumbs. "I was already healing by the time I found out about it and after that, I didn't see the point of telling you guys about it and making all of you worry about me…"

"I wanna punch you in the face for that-" Ochako paused for the sound of ice crackling to end as Shoko one-shot Tsuyu. "But I guess that was just you being you. Doesn't mean I have to like it. _Please _tell us next time?"

He chuckled weakly at that.

"Wha-" The class turned to see Katsumi standing in the doorway of the corridor leading out into the stadium.

She took shaky steps towards Izuku, managing to make her way to him. "You- you died?"

"I- I didn't Kacchan!" Izuku defended, raising his hands up. "I just…"

She gripped onto his shoulders. "D-don't. We both know what brain death _means, _idiot," she huffed.

She looked into his eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I- I just told you!" He was having trouble arguing with the look of betrayal in her eyes. " I- I didn't want to…"

"Glasses, how long is there between matches?" she shot at Tomoyo, who responded reflexively that it would be 10 minutes before the semi-finals began.

Hearing that, Katsumi grabbed Izuku by the shirt and pulled him off to the depths of the stadium.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Doi asked as the two disappeared.

"You saw how distraught she was back in USJ… I think she needs to talk with him." Momo answered back, recalling how broken _she _had been.

* * *

"WHY?!" she yelled, punching his chest weakly. "Why didn't you tell me!?" She was on the brink of sobbing.

Izuku caught her fists. "Y-you told me your worst nightmare was me dying… what did you want me to do, go 'oh yeah, by the way, half of my brain died back there'?"

That shut her up as both of them tried to find the words to continue.

"Of course not, idiot- just…" Their faces were drifting closer together. "You don't need to shoulder _all _the weight…"

"I know... " he huffed.

She could feel his breath against her lips.

Mei's words echoed in her mind. _'Jesus Christ, just fucking kiss him once and see what he does'_

Her hand surged forward and pulled his head down, closing the gap between them. Her lips found their place upon his in a fiery burst of passion that came and went like one of her explosions.

Swift and short lived, but oh so satisfying.

She pulled back immediately, face flushing fully. "S-sorry, I shouldn't ha-"

Izuku twisted both of them around, slamming his arm against the wall and cornering her, face close enough for her to feel him breathing. "What are you sorry about?"

Leave it to Izuku to make her feel weak in the knees.

As if sensing it, his other hand found its way to her waist stabilizing her as she drifted closer again.

Their lips made a brief contact again, Katsumi's hands roaming his back and neck till they ended up combing through his hair, nails scratching against his scalp and eliciting the softest of groans from the man. Then she pulled back, tugging at his lower lip as she did so.

He chased the contact, returning her kiss as his free hand shifted from her waist to under her thigh, pulling her up and letting his body pin her against the wall. Her leg wrapping around him instinctually, acting on her desire to be as close to him as possible.

He pulled back slightly to catch his breath, both panting against each other, their breaths tickling each other's skin.

"For not… doing that sooner…" she huffed, her arms around his neck loosely.

"Maybe I should've taken the first step instead?" he chuckled softly.

Someone cleared their throat behind them, causing both to panic and Izuku to almost drop Katsumi.

It was Ochako.

"So uh…" She looked pensive. "C-can I get my good luck kiss too?" Or perhaps she was just trying to keep her laughter contained.

Izuku paused, Katsumi looked like she was lagging again, mind tripping at the whiplash from the best kiss she had ever had, to the sudden interruption.

Izuku shook his head, taking a few steps towards her. "S-sorry I did that without asking you three..."

Ochako grabbed onto the sides of his face and pulled him down to eye level. "Oh, don't worry. Mei told us that was gonna happen eventually… not that _she," _Ochako gestured at Katsumi, "was any good at hiding her affection." She smiled slightly at how red Katsumi was getting behind him.

"Now if you don't mind me~" She pulled him closer and captured his lips with hers, moaning lightly as she pushed her tongue in to get a taste of him, causing him to groan back in return. His hands came to rest on her sides as she slowly stepped forwards, his hunched back slamming into the wall next to Katsumi as she could only stare on at a repeat performance of what she had done not 2 minutes ago, a deep blush slowly filling her cheeks.

Ochako slowly lifted herself up as she began to gasp and moan into the kiss, the sounds making Izuku flush and shiver as she all but formed her body against him, soft and warm skin pressed flat against his, separated only by the sports uniforms they all wore. Eventually, she pulled back, breath coming in short pants, both of them feeling lightheaded from the passionate kiss and the lack of oxygen, some saliva still connecting their mouths. "Haa~" she breathed out, giggling slightly with a glazed look in her eye. Izuku, in the meantime, was putting his quirk in to overdrive to keep from reacting as much as he was tempted too. There was a _tournament _still going on for fucks sake.

"ITS TIME FOR THE SEMI-FINALS, DEAR LISTENERS, URARAKA OCHAKO VERSUS, BAKUGOU KATSUMI!"

All three took a sharp inhale of air.

"Shit."


	39. Some say the world will end in fire

Tsukiko continued scratching her neck, rewinding and playing the scene, for the sixth time in a row, _watching _just how _easily _Izuku had lifted the purple haired woman up and knocked her out with a simple squeeze.

Her eyes had an unhinged glimmer to them as she repeated the clip over and over again.

"That... cheater," she hissed, accidentally touching her pinky to the remote in her hands, causing it to disintegrate to dust. "I'll kill you, just like I'll kill All Might…"

Kurogiri sighed, continuing to clean the glasses at the counter.

* * *

Izuku panted as he sat back down in his spot, watching Ochako and Katsumi make their ways to the ring, all three in various states of dishevelment; his hair was more of a mess than usual, and he hoped nobody would notice as he crossed his arms, watching the ring.

Neither Ochako or Katsumi moved even as Midnight started the match, both continuing to measure each other up from the two sides.

Momo rubbed her chin at his side. "Who do you think is gonna win…?"

Izuku didn't have an answer to give so just shrugged. "Honestly… No clue…"

Mina took that moment to attack, leaning forward from the seats behind him to get to his side. "Can't decide between the two of them?~"

Izuku froze at how _close _her lips were to his ear, causing the most delectable shivers to run down his spine. "I- uh… Mina?"

She leaned even farther forward, her breasts pushing against his broad shoulders as she giggled against him. "What's wrong I~zu~ku~?" Her hand found its way onto his head, trying to find someplace to anchor herself. "You're all disheveled too. What happened back there anyway?~"

The crowd exploded as both Katsumi and Ochako rushed at each other, causing Izuku to jerk back in shock.

Mina couldn't follow the motion, and with the sudden shift she stumbled forward, managing to grab onto Izuku's shirt at the last moment in a desperate bid to stabilize herself.

Only for her momentum to seal their fate.

She flipped forward, landing on his lap.

Momo started having a coughing fit.

Izuku blinked at the sudden weight added to his lap, and Mina slowly opened her eyes after noticing that _no, _she hadn't face planted onto his crotch.

_I…_

_I guess when life gives you lemons…_

She forced a giggle, shifting her hips a little to get 'comfortable' in her new seat, pushing her back against his chest. "Score~ Got the best seat in the stadium!"

Izuku couldn't see her face from his position, but Momo could see how purple Mina's face was getting.

Izuku looked like he was about to protest, but then the match started getting intense, Ochako using the dust clouds Katsumi's explosions were generating as a smokescreen to get closer to attack.

The embarrassed parts of Izuku's mind clicked off and his arms crossed over his chest as he went back to analyzing. Well, he would have crossed his arms if Mina wasn't there.

He didn't seem to notice he was hugging Mina as he continued watching the match.

Mina achieved a new shade of purple humanity hadn't seen before as she contemplated how well his arms fit around her.

* * *

Ochako breathed deeply and slipped back away from the sound and force of another blind explosion in the smoke, her fingers tight around a weightless chunk of rubble half her torso in size. Listening for the stomping and cursing, she lowered herself to leap.

Honestly, her pulse had been racing going onto the field, both from the adrenaline of the upcoming fight;

and the intensity of her… 'luck'.

Considering the fight so far, Katsumi was just as wired as she was. Probably more so if the fact she had scorched a third of the arena in the first five seconds was any indication.

As Ochako lunged, her arm came back and she whipped the rock forward as fast as she could. The sound of cursing and the pressure of another explosion rushing past where she was made her pulse skyrocket. She quietly doubled back, hands tapping down on the floor of shattered rubble even as her stomach protested with nausea, tying itself into knots as she started overusing her quirk.

_Just a bit more, just a bit longer…_

* * *

Miruko's smile at the goddamn _exhilarating _fight soured, and then dissipated as an obnoxious group of weaklings started their chatter up again, whining about how one-sided the battle was.

About how 'it was already decided' and 'Katsumi was just tormenting the other girl', and 'it was borderline abuse for the fight to continue.'

When she was just about to speak up, Inko intervened.

"I wouldn't know _personally _… but isn't 'beating unbeatable odds' part of a heroes job description?" Her tone was level, but there was a certain chilling edge to it that made everyone in the hearing range quickly quiet down with cold sweat running down their neck.

"Now, it's better when it's quieter isn't it, Yagi-san?"

The lanky woman nodded silently.

* * *

Katsumi growled in anger, the smoke and the constant rocks being hurled through it was annoying, but dammit if they weren't good distractions. Her opening strike was loud enough that it was working against her as well. The constant ringing was fading away by now, and the smoke was slowly beginning to shift and diffuse into the rest of the arena.

_C'mon… where are you…_

A blur of movement.

She turned, reflexes taking over as her arms raised and braced; she began to fire on the-

Floating shirt and rock?

Her eyes widened and the hair on the back of her neck raised in alarm, a curse breaking free from her lips even as she shifted her aim, arm bending and sweat building to blast down at her side. The impact threw her back and to the side, but it also blew the smoke behind her away for a moment, revealing a determined face and reaching arms even as Ochako was blasted back into the smoke.

_A diversion so she could get in close. Not bad, Round Face._

As Ochako rolled on hitting the ground, Katsumi came up arms cocked back and grin wide.

"NOT FAST ENOUGH, URARAKA!" She thrust forwards, setting off another explosion that blasted at the ground, sending a wave of shrapnel into the smoke, her eyes and ears darting to find her target.

A shifting sound of rubble reached her ears.

_There you are._

She raised her arm, bracing, planning to use her strongest explosion when the thought hit her.

_Not that hard. But maybe if it hits a wider area._

She shifted, one thumb pressing to her palm and down her wrist as she aimed down.

"HOLLOW POINT!"

The explosion was different, a widespread curving blast that swept through the smoke, clearing the area around her for a moment and shooting the nearby shrapnel and damage up into the air as it blasted past.

"GAH!"

_Bullseye._

The blast cleared the smoke around her and revealed that Katsumi had been steadily herded to the side of the now-devastated arena, the out of bounds line a mere 2 meters behind her, and that across from her, under-shirt smoldering and torn and with arms blistered from heat and impact, weeping blood from several scored lines from shrapnel was Ochako.

Honestly, Katsumi was feeling goddamn _wired _right now. Ochako was pushing her to the limit, had kept up with her, pushed her, and harried her for almost five minutes now! She could faintly hear the announcers calling out something but with her blood pulsing and ears ringing, she didn't care.

"Damn, Uraraka. You are fucking impressive. But now that the smoke's gone; _let's end this. _"

Ochako huffed, her eyes reminding Katsumi of the looks Izuku could give for a second at their sheer intensity. "You're right-"

* * *

"-let's finish this."

She _hurt _.

Her skin was tinted red from the shallow burns each explosion doused her in, her blood dripping from the many scrapes from the shrapnel that now covered her exposed skin.

She felt like her whole body was on fire.

Her only solace was the cool spring breeze kissing her skin; she was almost thankful parts of her shirt had burned off in the brief flashes of flame Katsumi produced with each explosion.

Even with that, she was having a hard time seeing straight; nausea and the ache from her quirk was more pronounced than she ever felt, even worse than the Entrance exam. She had never kept it active for this long, nor used it on so many different objects at once.

But she was ready.

One last attempt.

"Thank you Bakugo… for coming at me with everything you got!"

* * *

Mic was having trouble announcing just _what _was happening in fears of exposing the trap Ochako had set.

She could only stew in her own excitement at the moment, even as the audience continued booing Katsumi.

Aizawa had other plans.

"WE SAW ENOUGH, SHE IS JUST TOYING WITH HER LIKE A VILLAIN-" The protest from the crowd was the final straw.

Aizawa gripped onto the mic tightly, even with her bandaged hands. "IS THE ONE WHO SAID 'SHE'S TOYING WITH HER' A PRO? HOW MANY YEARS OF ACTIVE DUTY?"

The protester lost their voice at the sudden scolding.

"She's not _toying _with her- it's called being careful and not holding back- anything else would be a disgrace to our name, and worse, _a death sentence in the field." _Mic gently placed a palm on the fuming teacher's shoulder, causing her to start calming down. "Now sit down, and watch the _real _heroes fight."

As if that was the cue, Ochako finally sprung her trap.

"RELEASE!"

* * *

For a brief moment, Katsumi was confused.

Then the fear set in.

Katsumi desperately looked around to see what she had released. _She was planning all along… where is it- WHAT is i-_

She glimpsed the shadows falling towards her, head snapping up to their source.

"Well… Fuck."

Her arms followed her sight and she slammed her other foot down, readying herself for the kickback that would surely follow.

She let loose her full power.

The falling chunks of debris shattered and turned to dust before they could get within arms reach of her, the shockwave tossing Ochako to the side, and nearly making Midnight skid off her podium.

She dropped her arms, panting slightly.

_Sweat glands are shot… might have a heat stroke soon... _Her hands sparked ineptly, not even a pop forming _...and I'm out of ammo._

The dust cleared, Ochako was groggily getting up, panting just as much as she was.

_No wonder Deku loves her…_

Her face broke out in a smirk.

_She can keep up with the best of us._

Their eyes locked onto each other.

Both of their quirks were past their upper limits, both knew the other's body could just give out under them in any second.

The fight wasn't over yet.

* * *

"Holy shit…" Doi muttered in the silence of the 1-A seats, "Is Uraraka pushing _Bakugou _to her limits?"

Izuku's head turned to her, still stuck in his 'analyze' mode, Mina in his lap watching the fight intently with a massive blush. "She didn't get first and second places for nothing Kaminari…"

He turned back to the fight. "At first glance, she might seem like it…"

"But she is one of our strongest in a fight like this."

* * *

Both charged at each other, aiming to _end _this fight.

Fragments of stone still rained down around them, and with a pained yell, Uraraka caught one of the largest, nearly half her size, and pushed it ahead of her, driving it forwards as a shield to meet the blast of light and sound as Bakugou met her charge head-on.

The stone cracked under the first blow, and shattered under the second, but Uraraka only braced her arm across her face and _lunged. _

_" __THE FIGHT JUST DOESN'T STOP! THE 1A POWERHOUSES ARE FACE TO FACE AND BLAST TO ROCK! __" _

* * *

Katsumi grinned as the dust and smoke from their clash burst to reveal a lunging Uraraka. Her arms ached, her sweat glands stinging from overuse and her breath coming heavy from the sheer _excitement _of the clash.

But she was more than just a quirk; she could fight without it if she had too.

She stepped forward and met Uraraka's lunge with raised arms. The blind slap which would have connected was knocked up, Katsumi ducking under the reaching pads of her fingers even as she tensed, lowering and throwing her body into the motion.

From her side, a hard right hook flew up and around, slamming through Uraraka's guard with the thunderous smack of flesh on flesh.

The force knocked Uraraka back and to the side, where she bounced off the ground to a mumbled wince and groan from the crowd.

_C'mon, Round Face. That all you got?_

Katsumi raised her fist and stepped closer, trying to see through the last of the dust and smoke…

And there she lay. Still attempting to get up, but her body was no longer listening to her. Her shaky arms not having the power left to push her off the ground.

She finally gave up, rolling to her side. Panting heavily.

With the realization, Katsumi's knees gave out as her adrenaline drained from her system. With one hand on her knee, she kneeled, panting just as hard as Ochako. Smiling through the crushing tiredness. This victory wasn't given, nor was it just hero equivalent of rock-paper-scissors. She had to fight tooth and nail for it. In the end, the pride of her victory was the only thing keeping her standing.

"Good fight. Ochako," the blonde muttered between labored breaths.

She saw Ochako smile slightly, mumbling 'dammit'.

From the side of the arena, Midnight was counting, and with an emphatic '10!', she raised her whip and snapped it high. _ "Uraraka Ochako is unable to continue the fight! Bakugo Katsumi wins the match!"_

* * *

Tsukiko started laughing softly. "You see that viciousness, Kurogiri?...don't you think that doesn't fit a hero?" Her face shifted onto a sick smile. "Her…"

"Tell Sensei I have a potential recruit."

* * *

Izuku let go of the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "That was a close one…"

Mina squirmed again slightly getting his attention "I-Izuku can you let me go now?"

"Oh- Uh, sure" he mumbled, uncrossing his arms and letting Mina out of his hug.

Then his brain caught up to the situation, his face blossoming dark red. "S-s-sorry, Mina!"

"It's fine… shouldn't you go out there for your own match, Cuddles?" Mina asked without turning to look at him. She couldn't reveal her flushed face to him.

"R-right…"

* * *

When Ochako woke up, Katsumi was on the bed next to hers in the infirmary, scarfing down some water and gummies like she had been lost in the desert with no food for the past month.

She winced getting up. "Ow- ow ow…" She couldn't hold back the whine as her slightly-burned skin grew taut over her joints, aching like a massive sunburn.

Katsumi swallowed her portion, then gestured at the bowl next to Ochako's bedside "Granny said to eat up, you're gonna need the nutrients and sugar for her quirk to work." She tossed another gummi in her mouth.

Ochako chuckled sadly. "We did a number on each other eh?" She gripped the bowl and tugged it towards her, causing the object slowly float towards her.

"It was a good fight…" Katsumi shrugged, "was gonna win anyway, but you made it worth it."

Ochako almost spit out the gummi she was eating. "Prideful much?"

"Maybe a little," Katsumi shrugged with a smile that didn't feel as hostile as it used to.

_Guess its just banter for her…_

Ochako's face soured slightly as she woke up further. _Damn… I couldn't keep my promise either…_

Katsumi seemed to sense her dropping mood and clicked the remote in her hands, the muted TV blaring to life.

"Wanna watch Izuku wreck Icy Hot?"

* * *

Izuku shuffled his way onto the arena in a haze, arguing with the voice in his head.

_"Ar͔e ͢yoụ i͖n͚sa̤ne?̪ Th̢at̖ co͚uļd ki̲ll you͜!"̰_

_The heat would dissipate before it could hurt me though- I don't see any other way to win…_

_".̦..G͍o̰ddam͔m̢i̳t,̫ **fịṉe**…̘ ̹y̖ou ̲w͓in t̪his̙ r͍o̻un̦d, y͟o̭u̢ su̖ici͇dal ̻hunk-̭ buţ ̺I̲'ll̮ stop t͓hi͍s̨ ̞the̩ ̜m̗oment͇ ḭt ̳g̦e̲t̰s̻ to͕o out̫ of hḁnd͜.̻ __" _

_Fiiiiiine, _**_mom._**

_"I͢ coṳld͢ ̝b̲e̫ yo̤ur ̱'m̬ommy̼'͢ i̤f̠ y̩o̥u w̘an͟t̲ me ͉to͉ ͙be~ͅ"_

He started blushing. _Are- are you _**_flirting _**_with me?_

_"Wo͙u̩l̦d̲n'̩t ̖y̩ou ͓l̲ike͖ to ̹kn̥ow̲?"̱_

Izuku shook his head. _Even when we share a mind, women are so hard to understand…_

_"HĘY͢!̢ I ͚H͜EA̗R̞D TH̡A͢T!͚"͢_

_GOOD! _He couldn't stop the slight smile forming on his lips as he exited out of the halls of the coliseum to the clearing that housed the ring, his eyes refocusing at the sudden bright light.

Shoko was staring him down from the other side as Mic announced his arrival.

"THE MAN WHO HAS BEATEN THE ODDS SO FAR, AGAINST THE CONTESTANT THAT TOOK DOWN ALL HER OPPONENTS IN THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR IN ONE SHOT!" Mic's boisterous voice broke through the noise of the crowd.

Izuku didn't pay attention as Mic hyped the situation to make it sound even _more _stacked against him, breathing deeply and calmly as his joints started to crack in sequence. His vertebrae cracked from the base up to his neck, then his shoulders. He did his knuckles by hand.

Something felt right about that.

He missed Midnight mumble "Oh god, that's hot." She coughed to the side dispelling the words she had let spill out. "READY!"

He dropped into a combat stance, Shoko doing the same. _I have a couple of seconds… gotta make them count._

Midnight's whip cracked "FIGHT!"

Izuku's world was covered in white.

* * *

Mt. Lady stumbled onto her ass, looking up at the glacier jutting outside of the stadium. "Wh-what…"

"Guess even muscles don't help against a quirk like that," Kamui Woods muttered at her side.

* * *

Mic shook off her shock. " Todoroki Shoko continues her- her perfect match record, taking out Izuku Midoriya in one move… "

Midnight shivered on her podium. _Th-this is overkill on a whole new level… I- I can't even see him in there… _She stared deep and hard at the glacier that now covered Izuku. The sharp angular corners of the ice refracting light in a myriad of blues. Blocking even the silhouette of him.

"Izuku Midoriya is u-" she stopped as she _felt _something shift, eyes snapping back to the glacier for a moment.

**That** was when the **world** changed.

Shades of green flickered into life inside the glacier, accompanied by a resounding crack that shook the whole stadium.

Midnight took a steadying breath…_ what is happenin-_

Another echoing crack stopped her line of questioning, hairline fractures spreading out from the mountain of ice as it leaked even more green and hissed with steam. With a distinct rumbling that eerily resembled a deafening clap of thunder, a large section broke free of the main mass, crashing to the ground outside of the ring, the cacophony of destruction kicking up mist and flurries of snow in its wake

The shadow of Izuku became visible in the eternal icy blue of the glacier.

All fractures leading to his silhouette.

" A-Aizawa? " Mic muttered into her mic.

Midnight could see the silhouette tremble with exertion from her position.

" Wh-what is- "

The stadium shook as the glacier cracked once more, hairline fractures growing rapidly throughout it as the neon green glow washed out the blue of the ice, causing Midnight to shield her eyes.

Then, against all odds...

Izuku flexed.

The motion caused the crystalline structure to fail, the glacier shattering into millions of tiny pieces all around him in a glorious light show, accentuating and refracting the green lightning arcing off his body.

He panted as he smirked, steam escaping his mouth in bursts, sweat dripping down the valleys his muscles formed on his nearly bare torso, skin flush and shirt torn asunder in the process of breaking free from his arctic prison. He grabbed the tattered remains of the shirt and tracksuit on his torso and ripped it free, the fabric fluttering to his side.

"You need to do better than that Shoko. _Stop holding back _."

" _Come at me with **everything** you have _."


	40. From what I've tasted of desire

Moments before the flex that changed it all...

Ragdoll started giggling as the guy made it to the podium again, attracting the attention of the rest of the team.

They only heard her giggle like that when she figured out someone else's plan.

"Kitty looks kinda stiff doesn't he?" She giggled softly again, "almost as if he has a plan."

* * *

Toshiko looked at Inko, who was fidgeting slightly as her son made it to the field, clearly worried out of her mind about his current opponent. Her hand moved on top of hers, trying to calm the fretting mother, causing Inko's eyes to slowly click onto the taller woman's. "Midoriya-san… we probably should have told you this sooner but…"

She knew she was blushing slightly, even in her emaciated skeletal form. "While- while training your son, we… discovered something…"

She could feel Miruko's eyes on her back, clearly curious about what she was talking about. If the now-familiar sound of a glacier forming was any indication, they both were about to be enlightened.

Starting today, it was no longer going to be a secret anyway. "Your son…"

The glacier started leaking green light.

"He has a quirk."

Inko blinked, not fully understanding the reality of the situation. Then, the glacier cracked, and Toshiko's words hit her like the chunk of glacier hit the floor. Her eyes started watering. "He… I always knew he was special- I just thought that was just what a good mother would think…"

Miruko hadn't moved since the words left Toshiko's mouth. Her eyes slowly turned to the glacier shattering by the _force of nature _that was Izuku.

Toshiko smiled, hugging the sobbing woman gently. "You _are _a good mother."

Inko couldn't help but hug back and let out a happy sob as the building-sized glacier shattered.

* * *

_You gotta be kidding me- you have to be fucking kidding me…_

Miruko jumped to the railing as the glacier shattered to bits, leaning down to get a better look at the ring.

Her legs grew weak as she watched the green electricity he was producing dance over his body, as well as his shining back muscles flexing and contorting with his labored breathing.

_He flexed off a _**_glacier_ **_._

She crumbled to her knees, head resting against the poles that kept the railing up, eyes still on the source of her distress- and dare she admit, arousal.

_Dammit, Rumi, get it together, you can't get horny in front of his mom._

As Izuku's muscles rippled in the sunlight and glistened with exertion, she feared that she might have a difficult time keeping her newfound feelings a secret.

* * *

Izuku thanked the heavens that he had managed to shut his eyes before the glacier encased him; he really didn't need to know what frozen eyeballs felt like.

With the mass around him, he decreased his metabolic efficiency, just like he had done last winter, his core temperature rising rapidly.

_"You know ͈t͙ẖis͇ ̩co̖u̞l̨d̟ ̱c̨ọok y̥o͟u f̠ro͜m ̪the ins͙id͉e͕ ̥oͅu͓t ̘rig̹h͈t͔?͔" _Nana berated from inside his head again.

_Not with the ice siphoning heat away from me faster than I can generate it- _He let his body grow flushed, blood vessels transferring the heat away from his core to the surface of his skin.

_"You̢ sh̲ould ̨do̪ ̫t̨hi͇ș, t͔o͈o̬." _Nana suddenly applied One for All to his heart, and he almost panicked at the intrusion, fearing his capillaries would break under the pressure of his overclocked heart. _"R̤ȩla̼x- i̘t's̯ ̦jus̥ṯ ͇5̥%̺ ͈of O̘ne͈ f͟o̫r ̬All-̭ A̳ ̩big b͇o̫y̤ ̨like y̺ou̲ ca̢n̼ han̬d̖le̩ ̘it̡"_

He smiled as the combination of One for All and his metabolism melting enough of the ice covering him to allow him minuscule motions.

Then, he allowed One for All into his arms, the muscles tensing against the wriggle room he had melted for himself. The green lightning intensified around him as he added more and more muscle groups to swell with the overwhelming energy the quirk provided, the excess leaking out of his body as the lightning.

_Lets change society shall we, Nana?_

_"Oẖ ̫mͅy go͓d̢, ̢y͙o͚u ch͔e̹e͈seb̡a̟ll.̗"_

He could feel the smile in her voice as he pushed himself even more, the ice beginning to shatter the heat he generated caused the cracks to grow rapidly with the sudden change in temperature.

* * *

They all sat there, shocked. Each watching the green lightning arcing across the man's body as the shattered remains of the glacier fell around him.

Mandalay hated her quirk because she knew she was broadcasting, but judging from how everyone else was acting, it didn't matter that much. She gulped, trying to move away from the intrusive thoughts that were playing at the sight of his bare chest and smirk.

That's when she realized she had to set the ground rules.

Well, _someone _had to.

"Pixie, you can't trap him at the summer camp. We cannot have U.A.- or worse, his mother- suing us because you can't help yourself."

Her blonde teammate didn't look fazed, the look that spoke volumes about what she was planning still remaining on her face. Mandalay turned to Tiger, who was interested in Izuku's body for _different _reasons.

"Tiger…" She could help but smile. In a moment all the fears against it had crumbled to dust. "We can do it. If a man can have a quirk…"

The one thing Tiger had needed so desperately for all of these years. "You can go through with it. Once the festival is over for the first year's, we'll contact them." _I want to thank him personally for defeating our fears... even if it wasn't his intention._

Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob both turned around at hearing Mandalay's words, the two fellow pussycats smiling at each other, then at their male teammate stuck in a woman's body.

Tiger nearly crushed them all with a hug after the realization hit him too, "Remind yourself to send him an internship offer, Mandalay!"

They would meet the kid anyway, but they all could agree on wanting to see and thank him earlier than that.

"And a 'Thank You' note!" Tiger roared along with teary happy laughter.

* * *

Endeavor sputtered out as the man stood tall, her anger at Shoko refusing to use her fire dispelling in an instant.

_He…._

_He has a quirk…_

_He's more than just a prime physical specimen, he has a quirk._

**_He has a quirk._**

_He will bear me a legacy unlike any other. Shoko means _**_nothing_ **_compared to what he could make me._

She started laughing, a small smile on her face. Soon it spread to encompass her whole face, corrupting into a wide-eyed manic smile with roaring laughter.

_The perfect progenitor... the perfect inseminator... the perfect... man._

Her flames started to rise up as she looked up to the heavens as if laughing at the face of God.

_He will be the primogenitor of a new era. And he will be. All. Mine._

* * *

Doi was watching the match intently when she caught something in her peripheral vision. She looked to her lef-

Doi's piercing shriek caused the rest of 1-A to whip around.

Floating next to Doi was a head covered in long green hair and a pair of hands. The head smiled widely, clearly enjoying the reaction.

"Hey, how're you doing? Tokage Setsuna, Class 1-B, nice to meet you. Sorry to drop in like this but we over in my class had a question for yours." She brought her floating hands up to her face in a praying motion before chopping them down towards the class.

"What the fuck?"

* * *

Neiro was having a hell of a day. The man from 1-A had won the race and placed well in the second round too. That was fine, it didn't really matter that much, he could've done that without a quirk.

Then he kicked the head off of a giant robot that some insane Support Course student had made. That was pretty terrifying, but not entirely unbelievable.

Then he had squeezed the consciousness out of that General Studies poser like juice from an orange. Also terrifying, but again, he was a _large _man.

Then… then he burst out of a giant glacier in a dazzling light show, glistening in the sun and dripping with sweat and water.

Pony screamed in high pitched approval. Itsuka only blinked more and more rapidly as if that alone would subside her blush. Saiko had sputtered tea everywhere and was red in the face with hunger in her eyes.

Shiozaki started chanting about how she shouldn't fall into lustful thoughts; all the while still peeking at the ring with a heavy blush, muttering something else under her breath.

* * *

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

_Oh, but I _**_do_ **_want._

"He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters."

_He can make me lie down wherever he wants._

"He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

_I hope those paths include Izuku..._

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

_He can comfort me with his rod whenever he- no, bad Ibara._

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows."

_My cup is about to overflow..._

"Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

_I'll dwell in _**_his_ **_house once we get marri-_

Ibara sighed, shaking her head as she rubbed her thighs together, desperately returning to her prayer.

* * *

That settled it.

_Clearly, _Kinoko had laced Neiro's lunch with some psychedelic mushrooms. That was the only explanation for whatever bull-shittery she was witnessing right now, right?

Men don't have quirks. Everyone knows that. Women have quirks, men don't. That's like saying the sky is blue or that 1-B is better than 1-A. It's obvious, simple facts of nature.

"K-Komori, wha-"

"For the last time, I didn't do anything to your food, Monoma." The short woman didn't take her eyes from the arena, enraptured by the impossibility on display. And maybe a bit of his uncovered skin, if her blush was anything to go by.

"N-no, that can't be right, are yo-"

"Boy's got a quirk." Tokage's head had returned to their side of the divider, speaking as if the entire foundation of society hadn't just been altered. "Apparently, all of 1-A already knew."

Neiro paled and ran her eyes over the rest of her class. Most of them were just _staring _with wide eyes, a few of them covering their mouths in attempts to keep their jaws from the floor. Some of them were cheering, some were screaming, and Shiozaki's hands clenched harder in front of her, praying so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

Yui only looked at the ring quietly. "I am going to fuck him." It wasn't a question or a bold declaration, but a simple statement of fact.

"_ YUI!" _Itsuka spluttered out, head snapping back to the usually stoic woman.

"Well, I can see why she would," Saiko nodded. "But, I think I'll taste him first, Yui"

"I don't mind, I'm just gonna fuck him," Yui responded quietly, nodding gently "wonder if he would be into choking..."

Neiro felt lightheaded.

* * *

Since the glacier shattered to bits Mt. Lady was transfixed to one of the projectors, marveling at the sight of Izuku, his torn shirt fluttering to his side.

Kamui woods was just next to her, screaming about how foolish she had been to assume he was quirkless.

Death Arms looked back and forth between the two, concerned for their well being.

"Hey Yu, don't go chasing down that kid just because he's had every reason to overshadow your debut."

The blonde turned to face the muscular woman, face covered in red and eyes hazy."What- what debut?"

* * *

Izuku remained in his stance for a few more seconds, but Shoko looked lost and confused, trying to hide her blush while everyone else was frozen in place.

He looked at Midnight, who was still staring at him, at his chest, and at the sparks coming off of him. "Is the fight still going?"

Midnight only raised an accusatory finger. "Y-you have a quirk!?"

His stance crumbled as he almost face-planted, head snapping to the booth where he knew Aizawa was in. "You didn't tell the rest of the staff?" he accused back, loud enough to be picked up by the cameras surrounding him.

The speakers hummed a little louder, then he heard his teacher's response. " Logical ruse, bitch. "

He could _hear _her smug, slightly crazed smile that Aizawa was most definitely sporting on her voice. He sighed, then looked back at Midnight. "But- wait, I talked about it _with _you. Remember at the USJ? Total Command?"

Midnight blinked, slowly looking up to meet his eyes, remembering the things he said and starting to blush as she recalled how driven and determined he had sounded that day, even after all that 1-A had gone through. "T-Total Command? Yeah, I remember-" she finally replied dumbly before she snapped back to reality. "WAIT, THAT'S THE NAME OF YOUR QUIRK?!" She pushed her hand through her hair "I thought it was just like- the name of your meditation technique or something!"

"_ What? _No- who calls a meditation technique Total Command?" He rubbed his forehead in frustration, "and what meditation technique gives tenacity?"

"Who names their Quirk _Total Command?" _the umpire shot back, both almost forgetting that this was supposed to be a match, Izuku was shirtless, and they were being broadcasted to the whole planet.

Almost.

Shoko didn't let them as she shot another wave of ice after shaking herself out of her own fluster. Izuku didn't dodge and was encased in a smaller glacier.

Midnight's eyes locked to the origin of the wave; Shoko was panting lightly, her right side shivering from the cold. "Just. Stay. Dow-"

She didn't get to finish as Izuku broke out, shifting and turning out of the glacier. His arm ripped through the ice and smashed it loose as he shook the frost off, steam billowing from him as ice sublimated on contact with his skin. His eyes were a radioactive green and glowing from the additional use of One for All, green arcs of lightning dancing across his skin. "I said. Come at me with _everything _you have, Shoko."

Izuku had seen rage plastered on Shoko's face before, but this time felt more visceral. The woman hugged herself as her face soured in anger, her eyes glaring holes into his skull. "You-"

"You know why I will _never _use her power." She took a step forward, unleashing another wave of cold, the ground freezing rapidly as it made its way towards her opponent.

Izuku backhanded the oncoming glacier before it made it to him, encasing himself in a white mist of ice. "_ Her power?"_

Shoko didn't have time to think before the massive form of Izuku shot out from the cloud, his fist meeting her stomach and flinging her across the ring like she was nothing, her body skipping a few times before she could use her ice to catch herself.

"What do you want to be, Shoko?" he asked as she got back up to her feet groggily, wiping the blood from the side of her mouth.

"You know what." she hissed, getting angrier with the man. _He knows what I am trying to do- why is he-_

"Ok, then," he smirked, one knee lowering again as he prepared to dash. "Riddle me this: How many heroes do you know hold themselves back?"

"What does that have t-" She flinched again as the Goliath of a man seemed to blink into existence in front of her.

"**How many heroes do you know that held their power back when lives were on the line?**"

She was cornered against the wall of ice that caught her and the wall of flesh that was Izuku as he started pulling his right hand back, green lightning arcing as his right side bulged with contracting musculature.

"**HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ACT WHEN YOUR ICE CAN'T SAVE YOU?**"

In that moment Shoko was a small girl again, watching All Might on TV in her mother's lap cheering her on as she took down another villain.

"I-"

Izuku released the charged punch, stopping just barely before his fist made contact with her skin, the air pressure alone cracking the ice wall behind her and sending her stumbling back and falling against the ground.

He could see the ice forming on top of her as she clawed her way back up to her knees. "What- then…" she spat; eyes hidden by her bangs, "are _you _going to be the brute force that's going to make me use _her _power?"

He knew he was being harsh.

But Shoko had walled herself off for too long to do this any other way.

He forced a smile. "I showed the full extent of my power to the world in order to face you, Shoko. I'd hoped you respected me enough to do the same." He started walking towards her. "Yet now I see that you'd prefer to defy Endeavor than face me properly, let alone be a true hero."

Shoko took a few shaky steps to straighten herself, "I'll do _both, _" she slurred, trying to summon up more ice from her side, skin taking on a blue tint from the exposure to the cold. "I'll become a hero, without her quirk! Without anything that she gave me! I'll show h-" Izuku grabbed her by the shirt and tossed her to the other side of the ring.

"It's not _her _power. Shoko, nor can you be a hero like this," Izuku growled, walking towards the woman struggling to stand. _If I have to beat the sense into her then so be it. _"It's _your _power. And this is the time where you need to decide which is more important to you."

"Being a hero, or shallowly defying your tormentor."

Shoko groaned as she attempted to rise up, hypothermia starting to mess up her coordination. "Stop-" her eyes were hazy, "looking down on me…" She managed to mumble out as she stood back up. "You would do the sa-"

Izuku stomped down on the ring, the shifting of concrete as he cratered the ground, the ice that had piled up on the ring flinging off from the shockwave along with almost toppling her down. "Looking down on you?" He hissed, "If anyone is looking down on people, it's _you _." His fists clenched at his sides as his arms shook. "So many of us are giving our all to achieve our dreams, to reach the top. To prove ourselves." His mind went to Momo's tears, to Ochako staggering to her feet, to Shinsou staring at him with self loathing. "And you are here going on about how only half your power is enough?!" He sighed, hands unclenching. "I am going to ask you _again _, Shoko."

He let the power of OFA build in his body, his voice taking on a deep reverb of power.

**"What is your decision?"**

* * *

"Why is he dragging it out?" Doi mumbled, entranced by how much different this was to either one of the contestants fights up to this point.

"He's trying to make her use her full power…" Momo mumbled, noticing the sparks coming off of him had started fading in some places, barely there. "He is pushing himself too hard to extend the fight…"

"But _why? _" Mina asked, trying to wipe the blush away from her cheeks that had sprouted the moment he had broken out of the glacier.

Kyoka slapped her upside the head softly "Cause she needs to use that power sometime in her career, and if she can't do it when the time comes, people will die."

* * *

Shoko felt her weak pulse in her ears, looking up to her opponent walking towards her the same way he had against the general studies student.

He was right.

If she wanted to win this, she couldn't just use her mother's ice powers. They barely dented him, only causing Midnight to shiver from the cold in the sidelines

If she wanted to win this, She would need to use _her _fire.

But she couldn't do that.

She couldn't succumb and use her power after promising herself that she would never use it in battle. Not after what Endeavor had done to her mother. Not after all the suffering that her fire had caused.

She couldn't turn her back to her mother after all of this time.

"I asked for your answer, Shoko!" Izuku called out again, derailing that train of thought. "WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE!?"

Her breathing started getting shallow as hypothermia began to set in. Soon, he wouldn't even need to toss her out if her consciousness failed.

For a mere moment, she remembered a far off memory, sitting in her mother's lap, hugging her tightly. Exclaiming that she never wanted to become like Eiji, that she hated what she was doing to her real mother, and never wanted to become a bully like her.

"But… you _do _want to be a hero, right?" She could still see her mother's sad smile as she looked down on her. She was clearly in pain but loved Shoko too much to say anything about it.

"It's fine, my little snowflake"

Shoko let out a sob as her tears froze on her cheeks.

_I can't believe how much I had forgotten..._

"You aren't bound by her blood. _You _decide who you want to become."

Her tears flowed out freely as flames flickered to life on her left side, melting the ice that had encompassed her right.

She choked out a stronger sob as her fire grew in size exponentially, the inferno of red mirroring her turmoil as she screamed out the words.

"A HERO!"


	41. With callused hands i tasted softness

Natsume shivered as the fight continued, and not just from her nerves. Her eyes drifted over to Fuyumi as she began to see her breath.

She knew how close her sister was to Shoko, ever since their mother's institutionalization, Fuyumi was the one taking care of her after Endeavor's training left her broken, bruised and crying.

And now, seeing Shoko getting beaten by- _Izuku… that was his name right? _... -was causing distress on the older sister.

But then… Shoko set aflame as she screamed her convictions.

A tear rolled down Fuyumi's cheek. "He-he did it…"

"He broke down her walls."

* * *

Shoko started to get back up slowly, her body shaking off the symptoms of hypothermia as the flames she was generating raised her core temperature back up.

Honestly, she was surprised to see Izuku just waiting at the other side of the ring with a massive smile on his face.

She could feel one on her face too; her cheeks ached with the long-forgotten sensation of a grin spreading them apart. "You are insane…" she simply breathed out.

"Tell me something all of 1-A doesn't know," he shot back, a bead of sweat sliding down his eyebrow.

"Your quirk can't beat fire," she answered, stomping down and letting fire engulf her side fully, ready to fight.

"Oh?" Izuku stomped down into his combat stance too; lightning arcing from muscle group to muscle group. "Wanna test that?"

* * *

Endeavor stopped laughing maniacally as she noticed the orange glow coming from the ring.

For a moment she stood there, transfixed by the fire of her daughter.

"He actually… forced her to use her fire…" She started cackling more. _This man…_

_He just keeps getting better and better._

"MIDORIIIYAAAAAAA!" She couldn't help but exclaim, flames flashing high enough to cast shadows onto the ring, finally shaking the crowd, as well as Mic, out of their stupor.

A man had a quirk, one powerful enough to force the daughter of the number two hero into using her fire after tossing her around.

Needless to say, the stadium lost its shit.

"How is that even possible- Men can't have quirks!" shot a pro out in the open, pointing at the ring accusingly.

"But- but he has one, don't you see the lightning?" argued someone else from her side.

"_ HE FLEXED A GLACIER TO SMITHEREENS! CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT?!"_

The argument quickly crescendoed, overtaking even Endeavor's mad ramblings.

* * *

Miruko tried to stand back up, but her muscular legs failed her for once. The screams and yells of the panicked crowd went unheard; the only thing that existed for her right now was the man down below and his fight.

She leaned back; supporting her weight with her arms. Ears flopping to her forehead in the turmoil of emotions she was riding out.

Not only had he been strong, to begin with, not only had he spoken his mind whenever the opportunity presented, even against Endeavour.

He had a quirk.

He had a quirk and was forcing others to go at their fullest, in a show of true power and dominance.

The thought alone made something bubble in her chest. And she couldn't stop the stupid smile spreading on her face.

_I'm sending him an internship offer._

* * *

_"O̭h̗, n͟o̲w̧ yo̟u͇'̥v̦e do̧n̩e ̱i͓t-̳" _Nana was cut off as a torrent of flame exploded towards him, engulfing his vision.

_Well, fuck that _.

Izuku let One for All collect in his arms and clapped, the sudden shockwave caused by the impact of skin against skin dispersing the flames before they could even reach him.

"Hypothesis holding up, Shoko?" he called out, trying to look like he wasn't panting from the exertion.

_Nana… I'm running out of steam here… _-he lifted his hands up to a boxer's stance- _but I got a plan…_

* * *

Inko had been weeping happy tears since Izuku's reveal, gently hugging into Toshiko as she wept.

"I- I'm sorry he didn't tell you sooner Midorya-san… I asked him to keep it a secret till he was in UA- for his own safety" Toshiko hummed, eyes drifting back onto the ring, Inko slowly following suit.

"N-no no don't be Ya- no… Toshiko." She wiped tears away from her eyes with her hand "I understand why he would hide something like this…" Her eyes locked onto her son, smiling against the flames of his opponent. Worry bubbled but something else did too.

Pride.

Inko smiled, eyes locking with Toshiko for but one moment. "I just hope he knows how proud I am of him…"

* * *

Midnight quickly lifted her arm up to protect herself from the flash of flame, only for the pressure wave to blow her hair back.

Shoko stared at the spot Izuku had rooted himself in. "Guess not."

"But now, the question is: how much of it you can handle?"

"How much can you give me?"

Shoko smiled wide, a few tears dripping down her face. "Don't blame me for what happens next."

Izuku returned her smile and dropped to a fighting stance with his left side facing the burning woman. "Why would I blame you after pushing you to this?"

"Cause you are going to lose." Shoko shot back, flames growing stronger on her side.

Izuku started to laugh. "Shoko this has been all going according to plan. What kind of idiot plans to lose?"

That got the woman to start worrying. _All this time… it was part of his plan…_

_I need to end this now._

_It's been a while since I used this side… but It'll have to do._

_He couldn't have known about how strong it is._

She allowed another shot of flame to fire out towards the man, only for him to snap his fingers on his left hand while rolling to the other side sloppily, the resulting shockwave tearing the flame apart, causing it to singe his skin only ever so slightly.

Coming out of the roll, he panted again, the lightning starting to erratically shift on him. "Looks like it really doesn't affect me much, eh Shoko?"

* * *

"He's bluffing."

Ochako almost jumped as Katsumi spoke. In the heat of the moment, she had forgotten the other woman was there. She looked at Katsumi's crimson eyes glaring at the screen like it was the next opponent she was going to beat.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ochako asked after the initial shock passed. "He looks like he has it under control."

"Like how he was 'fine' after the USJ?" Katsumi didn't take her eyes away from the screen.

"... This is different," Ochako sighed, "that time he was trying to protect us so we wouldn't worry." She gestured at the screen again. "Him claiming to not be affected by the fire, that he's not gonna lose…" She gulped as the camera zoomed in on his eyes, which were staring right at Shoko with _something _going on behind them that she couldn't quite put a finger on. "He's not protecting anyone, he has no reason to do that."

Katsumi blinked, smirking slightly. "You figured him out too, eh?" She crossed her arms almost _proudly. _" Ok, if you're right about that all, why is he dragging the fight out? I'm sure you know."

Ochako deadpanned. "We both heard why Baka-gou. Now that Shoko has opened up and accepted who she is…" Ochako looked back at the screen.

"Deku did all he could for her already… Now, he wants to win to prove himself. He wants to set a precedent for the rest to follow."

Katsumi almost laughed. "Yeah, maybe you _have _figured him out..."

Ochako smiled softly.

* * *

Unlike her ice, Shoko was a lot less precise with her fire, as expected from not using it for, what he guessed to be, years.

But by no means did that mean that her fire was weak. It was powerful enough that he wouldn't doubt Momo was feeling it from the bleachers.

Her being sloppy with it only meant that each burst of flame sent heat rippling out in giant waves. He needed to work harder to dodge it.

_Or maybe just-_

He looked down for a second as another blast headed his way. His eye caught the rings tiled-looking surface.

He remembered the previous match, how Ochako had used the ring itself as her weapon.

_Gotta thank her for the idea-_

Izuku slammed his foot down on the edge of the tile and with a cracking sound, the large chunk of concrete snapped upright to form a chest high wall for him to duck behind. It blocked the oncoming wave of fiery death and let the heat and flame blast past him, boiling away the sweat on his skin as he focused.

Crouched, he counted the seconds. For as much power as Shoko's fire had, she couldn't sustain it for long. By his mental count of three, the attack faded. Taking his chance, he gripped the upturned tile with his left hand, and shifted, grasping it near the base and tearing it off the ground, letting it come up and drift up even as he spun and slammed a foot into the stone block. Shoko didn't even have time to catch her breath from the heat before the still glowing red stone projectile came flying at her.

With a surge of effort, Shoko managed to throw her right hand forwards, a wall of ice growing up and around the stone even as it hissed and cooled, billowing steam.

She danced to the side, reflexes and instincts screaming at her as from around the ice wall, Izuku flipped and smashed a fist where she was just standing, the ground cratering under his fist as she backed away.

_Even now her reactions are amazing huh?_

_"Y̧our ̨'p̠lan' w̧on't ̲w̢ork͕ ̙i͙f ̙yo͇u̧ kee̻p̥ ̘m͉essi̟ng̥ a͓round̠,̮ k͜i̦d. ̗You ̙a̡re runn͓i̺n̙g̖ ̫on̯ ͙em̰pt͈y a͢s̨ ̠i̩t is̩!̲"̝_

Izuku wiped the smile from his face. Nana was right; it was time.

* * *

"That's weird…" Momo rubbed her chin, looking at the literal inferno of a fight down in the ring. "I was sure the chilled air would have-"

Another shockwave ruffled her hair.

_Oh._

_His clap- even the punch before this…_

_He was dispersing the cold air. Not allowing it to settle on the ring..._

Momo smiled softly. _You went all the trouble of saving her- yet you were planning far ahead of that, weren't you?_

_...But what's your plan now?_

* * *

Shoko had to dodge again as Izuku finally closed the gap between them, shooting herself to the side with a pillar of ice under her feet and a slide to catch her at the other location.

She was feeling nervous. Her instincts screamed that it was wrong, that she was missing something. She knew that, considering how fast Izuku usually was, having seen him in action before, that he wouldn't have given her time to react- something was slowing him down.

_But what?_

As if just thinking about it triggered something, Izuku was on top of her instantly, a cratered step and fast lunge putting him closer than he had been all match since she started using fire. His left-arm pulled back and tensed for a punch, swinging forwards and then flinching back as she managed to defend with a burst of flame and forced him to back off.

A second burst of flame from her hand bloomed out and Izuku stumbled back further, moving away with another lunge even as his chest glowed red and began to blister from the searing flames. The pain barely made him flinch as he landed and rolled to a crouch, his eyes trained on Shoko. Radioactive green eyes glared at her, a small smirk forming on his face.

She looked him over once more, trying to figure out what was going o-

_He has been favoring his left for a whi-_

"After you went all out for me, Shoko... I owe you the same thing." Izuku rose from his crouch and took a heavy stomp forward, his foot cracking the arena even more and digging into the concrete. He lowered himself forwards, arm cocked back and body tensing as he braced.

Shoko's eyes widened as she noticed the asymmetry of his body, his right arm was bulging. Before she could even process, reactions beaten into her by years of training triggered. Her flames flashed out for a second as she began to encase herself in as thick a wall of ice as possible, icy tendrils digging into the earth to anchor the castle wall of frost as she braced to meet his attack.

_Oh-_

"LOCAL ENVIRON!"

_SHIT._

Panicking, Shoko focused her fire through a vent in the ice wall, a billowing sea of flame spewing forth like the gates of hell, rushing at Izuku; the light generated cast shadows even in the midday sun. For a moment, in the face of the rushing flames, the world was cast solely in light and shadow.

Even as the ice and flame shot towards him, Izuku didn't blink.

As the heat washed over him he felt no fear.

He grinned and One For All _surged _.

"MIDNIGHT WE GOTTA STOP TH-"

By the time Cementoss shook her own stupor and noticed the building attacks, it was too late.

"TEXAS SMASH!"

Power comparable to that of All Might shot forth, the air pressure alone creating a hole in the flames of Shoko's attack, the inferno curving and blowing into a massive burning ring around the force before it slammed into the bastion of ice. Shoko focused, her arm raising to reinforce it even as the shockwave hit, vaporizing ice into diamond dust before the air pressure blasted through the bastion like a freight train. The last thing she saw was the gleaming gold and green aura of Izuku's quirk, flowing off him like a heroes cape as it wreathed his form.

And a pair of green eyes, staring proudly as they met gazes.

Ash and mist consumed the arena a second later.

* * *

Midnight slowly lowered her arm as the wind settled down, an eerie calm spreading out on the ring as the snow, now black with the remnants of ash and smoke, began to slowly drift and float around the stadium. As the dark flakes began to drift closer to the ground, the cracked center of the arena floor was revealed. A trench several meters deep with shards of ice still standing split the arena nearly in half, a trench crossing past it of gouged earth showing the last attack as it had cut through everything in its path.

" Th-the fight that changed it all is over dear listeners… " Izuku now had the honor of breaking Mic once again, as the flamboyant hero now sounded monotone, even after a climax as big as this.

Finally, the dust cleared and Izuku himself was revealed. He stood, panting, near the side of the ring, his shoulder dislocated and hanging limply at his side, surrounded by debris. The trench started in front of him and it was clear the force of the blast had sent him skidding backwards, two line of broken stone leading from his embedded feet to the origin of the trench.

As the last of the snow drifted to the ground, Midnight traced the trench from him across the ring… and then the line of ripped up and upturned earth of the grass beyond that. Eventually, the smoke and snow cleared and she saw Shoko on the far end, her back against the wall of the stadium with a massive flower shaped bloom of ice and hoarfrost surrounding her and holding her unconscious form up like a queen sleeping on a throne.

"Todoroki Shoko is out of bounds- Midoriya Izuku wins!" she called out with a shaky voice.

Hearing that, Izuku stood up straight and staggered slightly, left shoulder sagging loosely too as he breathed out, a massive weight lifted from his figurative shoulders. He could still clearly see as Shoko threw her hand back and cushioned her blow, the massive flower of ice forming, with meters of snow to catch her made almost as an afterthought.

He took a few slow steps forward, his left hand pulling his right shoulder back into place with an audible pop that caused Midnight and audience members to flinch in the memories of similar injuries.

The whole stadium watched in silence as the man wrenched his feet free of the arena floor, his ragged looking red boots scratched and torn. He shook off the crumbled mess that was the leftovers of the ring and made his way to the woman he had beaten, each step ringing across the gravel of his trench and then the still frozen grass of the field as he marched slowly toward his opponent.

Shoko groggily opened her eyes as Izuku's grew closer, her resting form cast in his shadow with the sun beginning to drop in the sky behind him. For a moment, he seemed to loom over her, blocking the sun from her eyes. "I lost?"

Izuku smiled softly, slowly crouching to get closer to her resting form. "Only as far as the match is concerned… But I think you won so much more-" His smile dissipated. "Sorry, can you stand?"

"Don' wanna," she hissed softly, her body aching from the overexertion of her quirk and the impact of the last attack.

"Let me help you to Recovery Girl, then." Izuku chuckled softly as he leaned down, the hands that just mere moments ago were producing shockwaves tenderly wrapped around her body, pulling her up from her seat of ice.

Shoko's face flushed slightly, her hands landing against his chest as he lifted her up in a princess-carry.

"Your hands are soft…" she mumbled against his bare chest, her eyes closing shut.

Mic finally seemed to snap from her daze as Izuku turned back to the center of the arena, A sleeping Shoko against his chest. " A-and a great show of sportsmanship by Midoriya Izuku… a true exemplar of the hero course "

* * *

"Am I the only one that wants him to hold me like that?" Tooru mumbled out, watching the man walk into the doorway leading to the insides of the stadium.

Doi shrugged. "I think 'big man carry me softly' is just something hardwired into our monkey-brain"

Tomoyo blinked. "I would like to argue against that… but I don't know enough about evolutionary neurobiology."

"I don't know about you, but I really _do _want him to hold me like that," Tsuyu ribbited, flushing and rubbing her thighs from the earlier show of power. _And about a thousand other things too..._

"Guess it's hardwired into your frog-brain too…" Doi mumbled

* * *

Recovery Girl could feel the headache coming as the stadium finally burst back into sound, the chaos echoing down the halls reaching even the infirmary deep inside the massive structure.

She shook her head lightly as the familiar, heavy footsteps made it to the door. "You never learn do you?"

Izuku shrugged as best he could with Shoko sleeping in his arms. "Thought that would help her…"

The small woman hopped out of her seat, leading him to the beds. "Bakugou, you had your rest right, mind giving up your spot?"

Izuku smiled as he entered the curtained off area, greeting both Ochako and Katsumi with a nod of his head as the blonde got out of the bed, pulling the covers to the side for the new occupant.

Izuku noticed the small smile on Shoko's face as he finally placed her down on the hospital bed. He brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face, mirroring her small, content smile.

As soon as he pulled his hand back, he felt a pair of arms wrapping around his waist. His smile grew wider as he looked down at Ochako burying her face into his side. "You big oaf, you couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Izuku patted her head softly. "You know I couldn't."

"He wouldn't be him if he could," Katsumi added with a soft slap upside his head.

Izuku reached his arm out and pulled the blonde closer. She only dug her fingers into his curls deeper and pulled his head down, planting a kiss on his lips. A small smile of her own grew across her face as she pulled back. "I can't believe I can finally do that."

Something fluttered inside him, seeing how much happiness he was the cause of.

Before Izuku could respond, her smile vanished as her brow furrowed. "Don't think this changes what's coming next, _Deku. _I'll kick your ass no matter if I'm your girlfriend or not." She poked him in the chest harshly, finger right over his sternum. "And you better not hold back either; this has been a long time coming. I want even more than you gave Freezer Burn here."

He blinked slowly.

"I-I'll try my best?"

Katsumi huffed but didn't argue against that.

Ochako chuckled at the sight of the much smaller Katsumi pouting, and the giant of a man rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. _They do look cute together…_

* * *

The crowd finally calmed down after the 10-minute recess, the muttering growing silent but eerie as everyone awaited the man to make his way to the reconstructed arena.

Izuku shoved another fistful of gummies down his mouth as he started walking towards the ring, wearing a replacement tracksuit, trying to get back what little energy he could before the fight.

_"You k̬now̺, even wi̝t͇h̬ ̗yo͓u̱ ̪s̫t̝u͜ff̭i̧ng y̠ou͟r ̖f̹ace ̬a̯n͜d ̥ṣpe̠e̢ḏi̖n͢g ̻u̫p yo͖ur̖ ̬m̱e̜t̥a̩b̹oļis͔m w͟e'̲r̨e ǫn ̻th̬e̢ ͈ve͜rge o͉f̧ ͚c͎ras͕h͕iṉg ̨righ̩t?̲ ̣I'm͙ s̱ur͔pr̲įsed͇ ͓you c̞an ̦sͅtͅill ̞wa͍lk"_

_Plus Ultra._

He could feel her pouting. _"You̲ ͚d̝o͢n'̨t g͍e͖t̤ to ͇s̯a͚yͅ ̦t̹hat͈ to͙ m͓e̖,͢ ̳miste͓r. ͟I was̟ ̪bo͙rn̩ bef͜or͔e̙ t̻hos͖e̜ w̜ords e̠xis̤t̤ẹd.̢"_

_Wait, were you?_

_"I͚-̭ ̥.̹..͓w̤ait, w͢a̦s̯ ̦I̘?̮"_

Sunlight shone on him as he walked out to the clearing, feeling Nana think hard about her own existence again.

_"I ̠mͅean prob͔ably- ͖p͟art ̻o̙f̦ me is t̗h͙e firs̝t̫ ͖afṱer ͟al̰- o̥h ŗi̠g̙ht th̞e͖ f̱ig̗ht"_

He would have laughed if he had the power to.

"Alright Deku. Let's do this."

Midnight's whip cracked and the fight started, but before the echo of the crack could even fade, it was washed away by a salvo of explosions as Katsumi closed the distance almost immediately with an explosion of her palms, shooting towards him in a single lightning-fast lunge.

Even as tired as he was, Izuku still saw the world faster than anyone else and his reflexes were up to the task. He stepping into the lunge, darting to the side as he managed to grab her by the arm, twisting and trying to pin her down before his body gave out.

"THAT WON'T WORK ON ME, NERD!" Detonating her free arm Katsumi added momentum to Izuku's pin that he was simply not prepared for. As he was caught off guard, the two of them spun around and Izuku's grip slipped free from the centrifugal forces, sending them both skidding to a halt on opposite sides of the ring from whence they started.

Izuku breathed deep and slow, looking at Katsumi "Nice move."

She clicked her tongue "I told you to come at me with _everything _Deku, what are you a hypocrite?"

He sighed, his mind listening to his body screaming at him to stop and back down… and then pushing deeper, digging into any reserves of energy he could find as he crouched arms coming up to fight. "_ Aight… _come at me."

Katsumi smirked almost maliciously, but he knew that was just how she smiled when she got into the fight. _She is gonna hate me for this…_

He accessed the power of One for All, lightning starting to arc off him erratically. _Just gotta hold on- a little longer…_

Katsumi's hands glowed orange as she used her own small explosions to generate heat, sweating even more in preparation.

Izuku allowed his left arm to bulge as the normally condense musculature expanded to handle the output of One for All.

Then they both initiated their attack.

Katsumi set an explosion off that sent her careening into the air, palms re-orienting themselves behind her as she prepared for her finisher.

Izuku let more power flood into his arm bulging even further, right palm open chasing Katsumi in the air like iron sights. And in a flash, both set off.

"HOWITZER-"

"TEXAS-"

"IMPA-"

Suddenly the lightning flicked off. Izuku's eyes widened and pain rushed through him as, like a rubber band snapping back to its shape, his muscles snapped and his joints dislocated, the energy he had built up imploding in on itself rather than out. Izuku stumbled to the side as the musculature snapped back to its original form, his left shoulder and his left elbow both hanging distended and loose at his side, the pain screaming through him as he crashed to his knees.

Katsumi stopped the explosion propelling her forward, killing her momentum with a blast at the opposite angle as she landed on the ring, panting and looking at the collapsed man. "I-Izuku?"

With a heavy thud, his legs gave out and Izuku fell onto his back, bouncing once as he hit the ground and laid there, panting heavily. His right arm reached up and grabbed at the burn on his arm as he bit back a scream. "God-" he grunted once more, trying to lift at least his arms up enough to set his shoulder again.

He failed, he didn't have enough energy left to pop the joint back in.

"Dammit..."


	42. Not with a bang but with a whimper

Kae stared, eyes twitching, at the news broadcast that was playing over the sports festival.

The older woman with a large horn, Miyagi Daika, was speaking to what Kae could only assume was an international audience.

"With the First Year Finals coming to a close, it is strange to think that the champion is not our top story, but instead, her opponent. In what could be the largest development in over a century, the second place belongs to a man. And not just any man, a man who apparently has a quirk."

An image of a shirtless Izuku appeared as Daika was talking, causing Kae's eye to twitch a little harder.

"Midoriya Izuku, pictured here after his victory of Todoroki Shoko, daughter of the number two hero, Endeavor, shocked the entire world after demonstrating what we can only assume to be a quirk."

A short video of Izuku cracking out of the ice played, his lightning crackling over him as sweat and water dripped down his shirtless torso.

"Does this mean that men are now capable of having quirks? Is this a genetic fluke or a sign of things to come? We simply can't know at this point. We reached out to the government and UA for comment, but both declined at present. However, many people have doubts."

The broadcast cut to an interview of a random person on the streets of Tokyo. "I think it's a hoax," the woman said flatly. "A publicity stunt to get us all talking about the UA Sports Festival. If men had quirks, then it would have happened already. Every scientist who has ever studied quirks says that men simply can't have quirks."

The camera cut to another interview, this time with someone in a clearly poorer part of the city. "Nah, he's got a 'quirk', see, but it's not genetic. He's got those little machines inside of him that give him what _looks _like a quirk, but it's not really a quirk, you see? Damn, what're those things called?"

"Nanomachines, son!" someone from behind the woman called.

"Yeah, those things!"

The interview audio faded as Daika spoke over the video. "More still have other explanations for the seemingly impossible."

"Men don't have quirks," a woman in a business suit said tersely. "So it's clear that this 'Midoriya' is no man. Cosmetic surgery has come a long way in the past hundred years; it should be obvious to anyone with a cursory understanding of quirkology that the only logical explanation for this is that this 'man' is, at least genetically, a woman."

The camera cut back to the studio, where Daika continued the broadcast. "We received an anonymous tip that claimed Midoriya Izuku is, in fact, a genetic experiment created by none other than Nozomi, the principal of UA herself. Normally, we would ignore these sort of baseless accusations, but in these uncertain times, we cannot afford to not consider every angle. We reached out to Gang Orca for her opinion on these matters."

The broadcast cut to an impromptu interview with Gang Orca, the terrifying, massive woman with a head of an orca, staring down intimidatingly at the camera. A label beneath her read 'Sakamata Kura, #10 hero, Gang Orca'. "Do I think that he is a genetic…" she paused for a moment, scratching her face. "I wouldn't be surprised, honestly. Nozomi's done worse." The hero shuddered.

"We've been following reports from across Japan, as well as the rest of the world," Daika continued as the scene returned to her, "the advent of a quirked man has caused widespread panic and confusion. It appears that the eyes of the entire world are on UA and Midoriya Izuku. I believe it is safe to say that today we are witnessing history, one way or the other. But for now, we return you to our coverage of the UA Sports Festival, where the award ceremony for the freshman round is soon to begin."

_The sickness has spread…_

_I need to speed up my cure._

Kae stood up and walked away from the television. "Prepare Eri," she said to someone in the shadows. "We're having an extra session today."

* * *

Soft.

Izuku felt the gentle ministrations of a hand in his hair, his face pressed against an exceedingly soft surface that gave him a sense of peace and calm he doubted he could achieve in any other situation, flow or not.

"C̡'m͓on̟ ̙s̯lee̙py ḥead-̗ y͚ou͓ ̠g̲ottạ w̼ak̨e up~̝"

He groaned slightly, digging his head a little deeper into the soft surface. "5 more minutes..."

The surface shuddered slightly with melodic laughter that tickled his ears. "Get up,͉ ͓y͢ou b͈ig̣ luͅg.̱ ͖P̣eo̭p̯le̢ aͅr͖e͎ g̱onna ̟ge͖t̗ woͅr͓rie̗d͢.̼"

_Why would people get worrie-_

The festival.

His head shot upwards, slamming into something soft above him, his vision blocked by-

_BOOBS!?_

A hand wrapped behind his head, locking him against the supple chest he had face planted against. "Ge̠tti̳n͖g f̗ris̩k͇y̳ alṛe̘a͎dy͈?̼~ Ki̘ḑṣ thes̰e͕ day͔s ar̰e̬ ̩s͔o ͙bo̯l̺d...̠"

He _knew _that 'voice'.

"N̼o̝t͟ ̺t̩ha͎t ͔I ̲m͉i̥nd̻~"

He could feel his face warm up as both arms flailed around, trying to find purchase to pull away from the suffocating softness.

_Wait- both arms?_

_WAIT, NANA!?_

He finally managed to grab onto her shoulders, pushing his head slightly away from the bust of the- what he only thought to be the voice in his head up until now. Eyes adjusting back to the light after their bout in darkness.

What he saw took his breath away.

He thought he knew what ethereal meant before, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

His eyes locked onto hers for the first time, green against gray, then blue, purple…

He knew he should've been at least a little creeped out by her eyes slowly shifting colors, but he couldn't help but get slightly mesmerized by them instead.

In fact, her whole body was constantly changing. Her features were shifting ever so slightly under her black hero suit, and even the suit itself changing, its design morphing from one form to the next. Only her face and hair remaining constant. He blinked a couple of times, eyes moving over her hair up in a messy bun, her sharp and intelligent eyes, and the mole under her lip.

She seemed to be doing the same with him.

"I͟ ̝_kn͔ḛw̰_ ̢y͟o̖u ͖wer͖e̥ ͙ąṯtr̥acti͢ve," she smirked, pulling his face a little closer as if appraising a gem. "Cute ͚f͢r͜eckl̺e̯s ̣t͍oo͈~"

"... Holy shit"

"Wͅhat̫'s w͢r͕on͜g?̥" She asked with a small pout. "D̟on'͚t̳ li͈k͇eͅ m̹e ̹g̭e̲t̜ting hand̺s͟y?"

"_ What?- _no, it's not _that. _" He pulled back a little then shook his head. "Why can I see you? _Why can you touch me?"_

"Oh̟,̻ ̹th̞a͈t?͈" she shrugged, lightly laughing while doing so. "W̟ha͜t d͎o̫ yo̠u͟ tḥin̤k̦, M̟ist̺e͈r̟ Bi̮g͓ ̻Braͅi̱n?̮"

_Oh. _He had fallen unconscious.

"B͔i̩ngo͎!͖" Nana cheered, as if sensing his thoughts- well, she actually was, considering they were sharing the same neural pathways.

"How long was I- wait, no." He blinked again, face souring. "How long _am _I out? Have I been out?"

Nana laughed at him struggling to find the proper phrasing. "Rela̜x̨, ͢i̱t̖'s ̣been li̘k͢e- ̠a̝ mi̠n̯u̬t̪e̲ o͓r two̺?͔ If ̮ỵǫu̥r i̫n̘te̤r̠nąl͔ ͅc̜l̬o̘ck i̩s͜ ṯo̮ be ̺t̗r̤u̩ṣte͟d.̺" She leaned in to poke his chest. "No̤t̫ that ̟I̢ ͢ca̺n̤ ṯru͕st͟ t̬h̼at r̩i̞g͈h̞t now̖ ̝beca̧use̗ s͎omęǫne ̢de̹ci͜de͖d ̦it ̦wḁs ̘a̦ gr̰e̟aț ͜ideaͅ ̬to͙ ͎k̨e͕ep ͎g̖oi̼ng͎ u̢ntil ̹h̤i̼sͅ b̟o̳d̫y w͉e͕ṇt͙ ̣into̫ '̳saf̢e̫ ̳m͍ode̻'͜."

He chuckled weakly, "S-sorry." Then he noticed it; his own body was slightly changing too, lifting his arms up he watched them slightly shift, "woah."

"Wei̡rd,̰ r͉i̝gh̲ṭ?" She held up her own hand, "I͉ thin̥k ̖it͚'s bec͇au̧s͙e̞ ̻wͅe͚ are͓ ịn ͎w̡ha̰t ̢a̱mǫu̙n̙ts̰ to̯ ̧yo̘u̫r͉ ̞m̱enta͉l̳ s̪ca͔pe; ͜you̧r ̯th͔oug͚h͚t̳s̫ g͟iv̘en foŗm̧.͕" She shook her hand rapidly, the motion leaving afterimages. "N͚o͢t th̲e̥ mo͙s̩t co̧ncre͎t̢e f̱o̻r͟m͜ ̣tͅo ̬h̺a̪ve̹, but h͕ey͙,̤ ̨i̹t's̼ s̼ome̺thi̲ng̡."

He repeated the motion himself, his hand leaving afterimages too before rapidly fading away. From what he could glimpse they were all different- like he had thought how he could move his hand and his brain spat out all the possible ways it could imagine it happening.

"T̢ha͉t̤'̮s͜ p̲robaḅly͙ what ͍is̡ ͟a̘ctu̠a̦lly ͜h̗a͈ppening," Nana shrugged watching the afterimages fade too. "Mak͙e͙s͍ m̼e ̠w̤o̼r̨rie͚d̞ ͎tha̦t͈ ͍I'm i̤n this̝ tig͎ht̙ ͇ou̧t͓f̭it̩." She placed her hands on her hips, looking ready to scold him. "Jus͟t ̘what̬ are you imag̣i̪n͜ing̺,̥ ̗y͙o̲un̢g man?"

"We both know that's your doing, Nana," Izuku deadpanned, looking her up and down. "Never saw your costume before, but the design feels familiar- guess your old hero uniform got imprinted on the memories passed on by One for All? Or maybe it's an amalgamation too..."

Nana pouted. "I̯t's̢ ̩n̰o͚ fun ̝i̱f ͟y̭ou g̩e͈ț ̰a̢l̨l log̼ica͓l͕ ̪on ̲me͈.͚"

He shook his head laughing, "Sorry just- trying to keep calm in all of this, logic hel-"

His eyes landed on her again, and his mind ground to a halt at the sight of her in a swimsuit instead.

"T͚he͓e̺e̪er͙e̻ w̬e̙ ̬g̼o̞~̪" Nana smirked, crossing her arms under her bust and relishing the feeling of his mind clicking onto overdrive at the sight. "Wha͟t do y͕oṳ th̞i̝n̼k ͚of̮ ṱh̭a͙t,̩ ̠I̼z͟u̱kuͅ?͎"

He groaned finally slapping a hand over his eyes. "I fucking hate you."

She giggled. "Hey̺ no͈w,̲ ̟i͉f ̭I ͕c̺an͢'͇t̲ ̳ṱe͚a͍se̳ ̱_y̥ou_ țhẹn͢ w̞h̙o͕ _c̤an͓_ ̼I̪ te̖a̞seͅ?͕ ̰Be̹s͖id͚e̙s,͎ th̡e̖ ̤re̥l̗eas͉e of̠ ̠do̯p̢a͜mine you'rḙ p̱u͖t͎t̻i̢ng o̰u̦t̤ ͢is ͜tel̞li̯n̰ģ ̘m͟e o͎t̻h͟er̬w̧i̗s̗e͕.͕"

He groaned harder. "First Aunt Mitsuki, then Mina, now you? Why do you all tease me?"

"C̭aus͎e." She was next to him, hands sliding up his arms almost teasingly, before cupping his face. "T̲her̰e ͈isͅ ̢not̮hing l̺ik̜ę t͓h͔e rus̫h͖ o̥f h̼avi͍ng ̼someone͖ ̠turn ̞in͚tͅo m̧u̳sh ͟ju͢s͟t̥ for y͇o̫u̳.̺"

He could feel the whole mental plane shudder a bit as his face grew red-hot. "C-could you not-"

"Nope!̫" She kissed the tip of his nose before pulling away, her hero suit fading onto her again. "Go̠tta ̬te̠asẹ ̘yo̮u,̮ ͈i̱t̩'̰s too fu̢n ̞ṋo͉t̢ t̙o̱,̗ ̜b̫u͍t ̧yo̘u̻ ̩c͕an ̳c̗onͅs̳ider i̪t t̰r̢ại͎n̠i͚n̙g for͉ ̲the͜ ͜out̠si̘d̠e ̩wo̹rld.͇"

He shook his head. "Fine- whatever- but talking about the 'outside world'- I should go back. I don't remember getting carried out of the ring or anything; am I still there?"

"Nah̗,̣ w͖e're a͚t t͇he ͇infịrmar͖y̲ ͢r̮igh̲t̺ ͉no̞w. ͚W͔hat,̡ ͉d͔id̩ you̞ ţhͅiṇk̞ th͢ey ju̳s̜ṯ ̥l̬e͢f̠t̠ ͜y͚our̟ ̙u̘n͇co̞n̯sc͎iͅou̳s̘ ̹b͍o͟d̘y o̖n̝ ̲ṭh͜e̱ ̻r͕ing̦?̟"

"Ah- right that would be weird." _Katsumi is gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssed._

"Fi͇n̨e̘ fi̮neͅ, ̹boyfri̘en͕d̰ mąt͙erial̡,̻ ̥l͓et̗ m̲e ̯se͙e͔ if ̢I̖ ̗ca̧n͕ ̻ge͜t͉ ̹yo̢u c͟o̙ns͙ci̘ou̫s ͕agai͟n ̩so̫ y̫ou̜r̩ ͍new̗es̖t̠ ̜g̗i̳r͚lfr͎i͕en̞d ̼d̦ọe̠şn̖'͕t g̺e̯t͚ ̗scared.̞"

His eyes widened. "You can do that?"

"P̗ss̙s̰s̰h͉h̖hh̰,͖ of̞ c͜o̗ụr̨s͓e! ̯I͜t'̣s̺ ea̧sy ̩as̭.͔.̟.̰" she poked his forehead, "bo̬o̙p̼!ͅ"

* * *

Izuku gasped, eyes snapping open in the bed he was placed in, startling Ochako who was next to him. "Deku! Are you alright?" she barked on reflex, hand clasping over his right arm.

He blinked and started laughing lightly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine- sorry for worrying you." He tried to move his arm to hold her hand, only to find out that he couldn't move any of his limbs, only his shoulder shifting slightly at the effort.

"Oh."

"Wh- what's wrong, are you paralyzed?!" Ochako sputtered out, clearly panicking more.

"Izuku!?" the panic spread to the newly entering Momo, immediately, rushing to his bedside, with Mei following closely. "You're paralyzed?!"

"Do I need to build a neural bridge? I can build one if you need a neural bri-"

His laughter cut off Mei's offer, all three slowly calming down as they stared at his smile.

"No- no need Mei just, I think I pulled every muscle I have." His face ached with the broad smile that spread further across it. He didn't like worrying them, but a small part of him loved the feeling of someone worrying over his well being. It felt good to be cared for. "I should be fine after a hot bath or something."

"You shouldn't think like that, you young fool!" Recovery Girl scolded from the side. "God, I thought being 'thick skulled' was _just_ a figure of speech," she huffed slamming her cane down, "but here you are, proving that _maybe _having a thicker skull does make people more stubborn."

"..." The three girls turned back to him. Mei blinked a couple of times. "That explains so much."

Izuku stopped craning his neck trying to look at the short woman as his head slammed back with a heavy thud only his bones could produce. "I- I don't think that's how it works."

"THEN STOP ACTING LIKE IT!" Recovery Girl roared, slamming the cane down again.

Shoko's eyes snapped open at the sudden noise, sitting up instantly, ready for a fight. Her shoulders relaxed when she saw where she was. "Oh- is the festival over yet?"

"Nope, got a break till the award ceremony in-" Mei looked at her wrist.

She didn't even have a watch.

"... 15 minutes," Recovery Girl answered for her, looking at the woman with scrutiny. "You alright, young'n?"

Mei let her arm down, "yeah, just forgot Mecha-Might wasn't… active to finish the gag." Her voice grew slightly somber, but her smile hadn't left her face.

"Sorry about that," Izuku chimed in, melancholy tinting his tone, quickly dispelled by Mei's rapid shaking of her head. With that being said, his eyes dragged their way onto Shoko, replaying how violently she had woken up. "You alright, Shoko?"

The normally stoic woman sighed. "Yeah…" She was playing with the tip of her red hair, glaring at it intensely. "Just… reflexes."

Izuku didn't want to think about how those reflexes came to be.

Momo coughed, taking the attention of the room "Ochako, Shoko, I believe you two should make your way to the medal ceremony."

Ochako paused for a second "O-oh oh yeah- I got third place"

She blinked as if her brain was processing the concept, eyes widening as she came to terms with her achievement. "I GOT THIRD PLACE!?"

"You did!" Mei cheered along with her as she hugged her side.

"I GOT THIRD PLACEEE!"

Izuku couldn't help but laugh along, then stopped, thinking of something else. "H-hey Recovery Girl? Can we try something?"

"...I hate your ideas Midoriya, but sure."

* * *

It had all happened too quickly for the fake to react. She lay there, bleeding slowly from the shallow cut her righteous blade delivered, paralyzed by her quirk, Blood Curdle.

She had completed her mission and crossed another name off of her list. Beneath her boot, the fake coughed and stared up at her.

"H-Hero Killer?"

"Hello, _Ingenium _," Chizumi hissed back, eyes squinting at the downed hero. She was her highest ranked target yet; it was only by chance that the pro stumbled into her den.

This was a chance she wouldn't waste.

As the two women stared at each other with equal contempt, Chizumi sat in judgment.

_What to do with her…_

Ingenium coughed and hissed up at her. "You won't get away with this. Your reign of terror will end."

"Yes," Chizumi simply said, voice resolute as she raised her blade and aimed at the small gap in Ingenium's stomach armor. "All Might will stop me."

Tensa didn't even blink as the blade came down.

She had already accepted her fate.

* * *

Toshiko shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the murmurings of the medal ceremony picked up, the student body filing into the stadium slowly.

Inko and Miruko noticed the odd bouncing of her foot, looking at her with worry on the former, and confusion on the latter's face.

"Are you alright Yagi-san?" Inko asked, hands interlocking in a praying motion. The mother had been praying since Izuku had lost consciousness on the ring, with intermittent floods of tears.

The lanky woman nodded, hissing slightly "I… I'll be fine, but I need to duck out for a second. I'll be back."

"Nervous bladder?" Miruko asked, face morphing back into a smirk. She had been pouting slightly since Izuku's loss.

"Yeah, It's that." Toshiko nodded along, jogging deeper into the stadium.

Inko watched her leave, sighing softly in thought.

"... you worried about her health?" Miruko asked, without turning her face away from the arena.

"No… just wondering something. It's not important…" Her face stuck in a serious pout as she turned back to the arena too. _...I wonder_

* * *

"Ladies and gentleman!" Midnight began, heels clicking on the concrete as she stood at her podium, fireworks firing off in every direction, along with smoke filling the middle of the stadium.

"It is time for the medal ceremony to begin!"

On her cue, a podium started to rise from the ground, hidden behind the bubble of smoke

"And of course, to present the medals, a special someone will make an appearance!" She added, gesturing at the top of the stadium, signature laughter filling the area.

All Might leaped from the roof of the stadium as Midnight continued.

"Our very own hero, All Might!-"

"I AM HERE, WITH THE MEDALS!"

Both paused, then looked at each other.

"Sorry I talked over you-" Midnight mumbled blushing with embarrassment, then coughed to the side continuing with her speech as the smoke cleared.

"And here they are! Our winners of this year's sports festival! Third place, Uraraka Ochako and Todoroki Shoko, second place, who is currently bedridden Midoriya Izuku-" She paused for a second as All Might coughed, gesturing behind her with her head.

Midnight's eyes followed to see Izuku, standing on the podium, chest bandaged and a tracksuit on his shoulders. his feet were frozen to the ground and hair floating slightly, clearly under Ochako's and Shoko's quirks with an IV bag and holder next to him. He smiled awkwardly, causing her brain to short circuit over how the hell he could pull such a cute expression when his body looked so damn rugged.

"I have been informed that Midoriya Izuku will be able to make an appearance in today's ceremony," she quickly amended, spinning back around, "and last but certainly not least, Bakugo Katsumi! The champion of this year's sports festival!"

Along with her announcement another round of fireworks shot out, red, green and pink filling up the afternoon the sky.

All Might huffed, her chest swelling with pride as she stepped forward, onto the third place podium.

"Congratulations, Young Uraraka," she started, gently placing the medal around the woman that looked ready to burst out of her skin with excitement and joy. "You have shown us that one doesn't need a quirk built for offense to win in a fight, just a little ingenuity with its application!" She hugged the shorter woman, patting her back gently "I cannot wait for you to continue to break expectations."

The titan of a woman took a step back from Ochako, who had happy tears dripping from her eyes, then turned toward Shoko. "Young Todoroki! Congratulations!" She placed the medal on the woman who inspected it with curiosity more than anything else. "I am glad to see you decided to use the full power of your quirk." She gently hugged her too, noting the way the young woman locked up at the contact.

"I can't wait for what you do next," the hero said, quickly pulling away to relieve some of the discomfort she had probably caused.

After All Might stepped back, Shoko relaxed, nodding resolutely.

Then, it was Izuku's turn.

All Might stepped up, holding the silver medal out, ready to place it on his neck. "Congratulations, Young Midoriya" she paused, looking at his hair, and his feet then pulled the medal back. "...Would you crumble down if I put this on your neck?"

He laughed softly, wincing at the aching of his left side. "Probably- could you hang it on the IV stand?"

The hero nodded, hooking the medal onto the pole. "Today, you have proven that men can not only stand in a field dominated by women, they can even excel." She gently hugged him, and unlike the other two she didn't need to bend at the waist to get to a comfortable angle to do so. "And that is not even mentioning that you have proven a two-century-old assumption false, and truly showed what it means to go Plus Ultra!" She patted his back and parted. "But, next time please remember that going that far past one's limits isn't the best for a marathon."

Both chuckled slightly at her light scolding.

Katsumi huffed at the side, crossing her arms and looking away. She had been pretty much moping since the end of the fight, neither her explosive behavior nor her pride shining through.

"Young Bakugou!" All Might cheered, stepping up to her pedestal. "Congratulations on your victory, there is no need to mope about the fight you couldn't have!" She presented the medal to her, Katsumi looking at the piece of gold as if it was talking shit about her mother.

"I don't want it." She huffed, turning away from the medal.

Izuku noticed a slight change in her voice. _Oh._

All Might looked at the medal, then back at the woman "I know you didn't get to enjoy a fight like you hoped, but you need to take it, consider it as a promise to have one that will fulfill you in the next battle."

Katsumi's eyebrows twitched, her face falling before finally extending a hand to accept the medal.

All Might placed the medal in her open hand and turned around, hopping down to the front of the podium.

"But, hold on everyone." The hero coughed, placing her hands on her hips. "They might be the ones to stand on the pedestals," she gestured at Katsumi and the rest "But as you all witnessed, everyone in this field showed why our choice to cultivate them was the correct one! Competition, encouragement, pushing each other higher and higher with each clash of their wills!"

She swept her hands forward, gesturing at all of the student body, "the sprouts of today will grow into the heroes of tomorrow!"

"NOW THAT LEAVES ONE THING LEFT UNSAID!" The top hero cheered, pointing to the sky "SAY IT WITH ME, EVERYONE!"

"**PLUS ULTRA!**"

* * *

Izuku wanted to chase after Katsumi once the festival ended, so he could talk to her about why she sounded so… _disappointed _in herself. But he couldn't, as Recovery Girl dragged his paralyzed body back to her infirmary as soon as the podium lowered back underground.

Five hours later, he was able to move again; the combination of Recovery Girls quirk, proper nutrients, and Total Command overclocking in his regenerative processes way past human norms, he had healed enough of his torn muscle tissue to leave under his own power. Not that he wasn't in any pain while doing it, however. Each motion caused his body to scream at him about how sore it was.

_It was worth it though _. He hissed inside his head. _I made my splash._

_"Y̤ea̮h ̘a̱n̟d ̗pa̱inte̜d̡ ͅa t͈ąr̗ge̥t̠ o̙n̢ y͉oṵr ba̻ck," _Nana hummed back; he could 'see' her smirking. It didn't help that he had a face to attach to the sensation now. _"Not̬ t̲hạt i͍ṭ ̯w̠a̜s ͟a̰vͅoi̱da̝ble̦-̮ y̳o̖u̦ ͇cou͖l̨dn't̰ ̼hi̫d̨e ̜yo͟uṛ ͍po̗w̹e͕r̜ ͓foreve͖r̳."_

He grimaced. _I am gonna get lots of weird fan mail after that glacier thing, aren't I?_

Melodic laughter filled his head. _"Ohͅ,̬ I͍ ̫w̻o̜ul̯d̘ ̝bͅet on̩ it."_

_"I ̯w͚o͢u̠ld̮ **def̤i͙ni̬t̝e̩ly** s͓e̳n͟d̟ ͇y̫o̱u͔ ̹so̝me̳t̝h̥i͈ng~͜_ _"_

He sighed, grumbling to himself and finally reaching the 1-A dorms, long after the last of the students went to bed.

_"Did y̘ou j̲us͢t ẉi͇s̟h ̡tha̘t ̹y̲our̠ ̲g̲i̫rl̘frie̯n̲ds̰ ͖wer̫e̘ u̫p ̻and ͎w̧aiti͎n̼g̝ ̗f͓or ̗yo͜u͚?" _Nana accused, a slightly teasing tone bleeding into her voice. _"E͜ven ̭w͟h̯en̜ ̱you a̞s̨k̯ed the̩m to ͓g̢o̗ to ̯be͕d ̹a͉n͜d̥ n͚ot̤ w̹o̧rry̡ ̞a̳bou͎t you?"̭_

He blushed, his own thoughts sputtering a bit. _I- I can't help it! _He gripped the door handle, the machine humming slightly as it scanned his fingertips and clicking open. _Is it that bad to want that?_

_"No̭t͍ ̥a̰t̪ al̟l!͎"̮ _Nana chirped back, _"bu͍t ͎i̝t i͍s̭ ͢a͉dor̡a͎ble̟~"_

He huffed, blush still on his face as he silently made his way to the staircase leading to his dorm room, only to pause when he heard a clatter in the kitchen.

His head swiveled, causing him to wince as his neck ached at the motion after hours of inaction.

He stared at the source of the clatter, eyes making out the silhouette of someone before they focused down, cones going into overdrive as his body attempted to see better in the darkness of the common room.

The form sharpened, and he could make out the details.

It was Katsumi, wearing a giant T-shirt that went down to her thighs. He couldn't help but wonder if she was wearing anything under it.

She was staring back at him, but he doubted that she could see him properly. As if to prove his point, she clicked the light on, eyes full of rage for a split second before she realized who she was looking at.

Then her eyes met the floor as she tried to escape out of the common room. "Wait- Kacchan!" he whisper-screamed, the woman stopping in her tracks.

"What do you want, _Deku _?" she hissed, but it sounded broken.

"...You know you're a hard person to read, right?" he mumbled, slowly making his way up to her. "But- I think I am starting to figure you out."

She huffed, avoiding his gaze. "What are you babbling on about?"

"It wasn't your fault." He placed one hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to feel guilty about me getting hurt."

She stiffened for a moment before her shoulders slumped. "Fucking… god dammit-" she sniffled slightly, "even All Might thought I was just _mad _that I didn't get to fight-"

"And she was right! I _was _mad about it!" She pulled him into a hug, pressing her head against his chest. His brain started to short circuit as he started to feel her skin through the flimsy layers of fabric between them. "But I was fucking worried sick about you too!"

Izuku patted her back softly, trying to keep calm. "And let me guess, you didn't think you deserved to come to check if I was alright, because, according to your logic, you were the cause of me getting hurt?"

"Yeah, dumbass! Last time I checked I was the one that pushed you to use your full power!" She headbutted his chest.

His hand found its way to her head and caressed her hair softly. "We both know that's bullshit."

She melted into his touch; at that moment he couldn't even feel the aching of his body. " I- Izuku…" She hummed into his chest, then looked up at him. "Am I a bad person?"

He almost started laughing. "Well… you are crass, you swear a lot, take pleasure in seeing the fear in villains' eyes, love a good fight, and aren't afraid of cussing out people who you don't respect."

"I bullied you for 14 years, trying to keep you away from your dream. I hurt you physically and pushed people away from you," she mumbled, her ruby eyes looking away from his green. "I am a terrible person, aren't I?"

He cupped her cheek, pulling her into a short, chaste kiss. As they broke apart, he smiled down at her. "You keep forgetting why you did that: to keep me safe. Even when it hurt you." He pushed his forehead against hers, seeming to stare straight into her soul. "That's self-sacrifice, no?"

She nodded softly, mesmerized by the logic and intoxicated by his presence.

"You're a fan of All Might, just like me… You know she says that the greatest indicator of a true hero is the spirit of self-sacrifice…" he almost whispered, pulling her waist a little closer to him.

"That's some idiotic logic…" she mumbled, not really arguing against it.

"Of course it's 'idiotic', It's _my _logic _. _" He smirked, almost laughing. "But it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does. It's _your _logic," she shot back, almost offended by his self-deprecating joke. "B-but it shouldn't excuse it all. Izuku, what I did to you was unforgivable."

"The feeling is _not _mutual," he huffed. "I already forgave you, Kacchan. I forgave you a long time ago and you know it."

"I can't accept that forgiveness..." She pushed away from him. "I'm just- abusing your kindness at that point- I can-"

"Ok, fine," Izuku cut her off, his voice dropping a few octaves as it became commanding, "then you need to make it up to me."

The sudden change in his tone made her knees feel weak. "W-what do you mean?"

"You need to make it up to me then," he repeated, taking a step forward and towering over her. "Something _hard _."

She hoped he couldn't see her growing blush.

"I want you to forgive yourself," he _commanded._

"A-alright- only if it's with yo-" She paused. "Wait, what?"

He paused too. "What?"

"Did you just-" Her face was glowing red hot. "Fucking- are you serious?"

"Wait, what did you think I was-" It clicked, and Nana started laughing inside his brain, hard enough that he could feel her tears dripping down her face as his face grew neon red. "Wh- NO! I wouldn't!"

"What, am I not good enough for you?!" she screeched, her face somewhere between embarrassed, angry and disappointed.

"What!? No! You- I wouldn't pressure you into doing that!" he rebuked, waving his arms around defensively. "Kacchan, you are _beautiful _! Why would I even think that!?"

Both paused again, faces somehow growing even redder.

"Just fuck already," Mei groaned, walking out of the bathroom with her goggles on her eyes. "But later. First, I need my body pillow." She hugged Izuku's side sighing contently with her head against his pectoral muscle.

Katsumi looked like she was buffering again as all the information passed through her head. "N-night Hatsume, Izuku." She turned around robotically and climbed up the stairs.

Izuku blinked a few times before Mei shifted, yawning again as she tugged on his right arm. Even when she was groggy from sleep she seemed to be avoiding his left, which had long since healed.

"Cmon Zuku-" she mumbled. "It's 2 AM, you need your sleep."

He squinted slightly, almost mumbling 'that's rich coming from you', but he held his tongue and followed the pinkette up the stairs to his room.


	43. Green was the silence, wet was the light

The day after the sports festival was hectic, to say the least.

The whole class except Tomoyo had packed into the common room early that morning before class, flipping through channels, watching the sports festival coverage.

Much to his embarrassment, most of it was about him. Even live feeds of the UA Barrier were mixed into the flood of news as the news anchors made reports on him.

The gazes of his classmates went between him and the screen, before Katsumi's mind registered "Wait- did that anchor just talk about Auntie?"

Izuku's eyes widened, worry bubbling in his chest about what he had pulled his mother into. He took a few steps back, excusing himself as he called the only person that could possibly help him.

Nozomi picked up her phone before it even rang once. "H-how?"

" Thought you might call about the outcry you caused, " the president of the university chuckled. " Don't worry about your Mother, she has been placed in 'witness protection'. She didn't seem to mind when All Might- posing as 'Toshiko' your trainer, of course offered her the spot "

He gulped for a second, worrying about how much discomfort he was probably causing for his mother.

"Midoriya, don't tell me you didn't think you would have a fallout like this. You are the first man with a quirk, be it now or after you make your debut as a hero, your mother was going to be a target. The earlier she is used to it, the better. That's my opinion on the matter," The president responded, not letting him wallow in his moment of self-doubt. " Also, you are under house arrest till the media frenzy dies down. I'm giving it- a year "

"A YEAR?!" he blurted out. "I'm gonna be stuck at the dorms for a _year _?!"

" That's my call on the matter, you can try going outside of UA in a disguise or something in a month or two, but for now you are to stay put. " He knew she liked to mess with people, but at that moment he trusted that order was in his best interests. " Also, since you called, I'd like to speed up some processes. Tell the student body the next four days are off and to enjoy their long break. Everyone earned it after their show in the Sports Festival. "

He mumbled out a "yes, ma'am," and the line went dead.

He paused, staring at his phone. A part of him wanted to comment on just how much Nozomi talked, but more of him was just happy to hear that his mother was in the safest hands he knew of.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket and went back to tell the class about the news.

* * *

Ochako was the last to leave, hugging him tightly and pulling him in for a passionate kiss. He would've loved for her to stay, but her mother had come running to Musutafu after the sports festival. There was no way he was going to keep her away from them.

All others were in the same boat; Momo's parents calling her up to talk with her about something and even Mitsuki called Katsumi back home.

Suddenly the dorms he had lived in for almost a month felt alien with how empty they had become. In their month together, his classmates had become a second family.

And he wanted that family back, even Minerva.

He shuddered at the thought, making his way up to his bedroom. Nozomi was right, he needed the rest. _Maybe a nap, then a shower?_

He rolled his right shoulder, wincing at the soreness. _"Yeah̪ n͟o,̪ ̣I t͙hink a ba͈th i̠s m̬o̯r͍e̬ a͚ppr̩opr͇iͅa͢te̹," _Nana chimed. _"Pl͙uṣ I ͙g̩e͕t ̰t͙o s͕e̮e̩ y̬ou nak͔e̪d for ļon̘g̜e̙r"_

_Please don't make it weird… _He mumbled, blushing slightly.

_"C͎'̞m͖on͎, yo̖u̻'̪re ̘living͕ in a͉ ̺d͙orm̹ ̻full̫ ͇o͉f̠ ͅgi̞rls͕,̣ ̥wh̨e̯n w͚as̯ ͍t͔h̯ẹ ̩la̟s̙t ti̩me̲ ̰yo̪u..̪. you ̠k̜now̲~̮" _He shuddered at the thought and the slight sensation of part of him getting aroused. _"B̲et̻ ̢y͚ou ar̨e͙ ̠pe̫n̗ṱ ̹u̡p̖,̠ ̳h̻u̢h?̙"̮_

_W-We both know Total Command suppresses that! _he shrieked mentally, trying to dispel the sudden urge Nana had brought out from inside him.

He stopped right in front of his door _...Wait- when _**_was_** _the last time I did that anyway?_

_".̗..O̻k̯ ̘s͢o̳ ͍I wa̰s̬ l͜ook͉i͙n͎g a̩rọu̯nd ̦yo̙ṵr̼ m̨e̙m̯o̹ries̝, ̖ca̲u̢s̗e I am n̬ose͔y,̱" _Nana broke his line of questioning "_Ųh-̞ ̠dịd y̟ou ev͍er̰ ̰d̤o **it**?͔"̹_

_"Ca̝use ̘t͈her̰e͎ are ͢n̩o me̡m̧or̦ies o͎f̪ ̫it.̹"_

He blinked "Oh yeah, I guess not…"

"TOLD YOU IT SUPPRESSED IT!"

"Zuuukuuuu," came a tired voice from his room. "Beee quiieeet."

"Mei?"

He opened the door to see Mei in one of his t-shirts, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "Did everyone else leave?"

"Y-yeah," he mumbled, hoping that she wouldn't push on who he was screaming to, "you not going to leave?"

"Nah, Power Loader told me the workshop was gonna remain open. Oh yeah-" she reached a hand under the baggy t-shirt she was wearing, pulling out a card, "and said that… _You _were in charge of me."

His eye twitched. "W-what?"

"Here." She tossed the card at him and crossed her legs on the bed.

He looked down on the card. 'Izuku is still technically still a staff member at UA, tell him that he needs to keep you in check, and only his fingerprints will open the workshop doors.'

His shoulders slumped. "Well she isn't wrong…" _Goodbye nap…_

Mei looked at him. "...There is no rush if you're tired though," she added shyly and a little sadly.

His heart skipped a beat, he knew how much she loved inventing and to push it off for him…

It just felt good to know she cared for him that much.

_"You got͇ ̨it b̥ad̗ love͕r bͅoy̹-" _Nana teased inside him.

_~Tuning you out now.~_

Mei flopped back onto the bed, trying to look like she wasn't moping at the loss of her full day of inventing.

"M-Mei, it's fine, we can go. I just need a shower to relax my muscles a bit first," he finally said, placing the card on top of his desk.

He almost fell down when Mei tackle-hugged him, her smile shining brighter than ever. "I love you! I love you so much, Izuku!"

He chuckled at her boisterous show of affection, blushing slightly. "C'mon, you didn't think I was going to keep you away from your passion, did you?"

She was rubbing her face into his chest at this point, trying to show just how much she appreciated him. "You are the BEST!"

Mei's leg bounced as she watched _another _documentary about how mining machinery was built. She couldn't help but be a little antsy; Izuku was taking a long time in the shower.

_I mean… it's normal. He did pull most of his musculature in the Sports Festival… He is probably still pretty sore, even with Total Command…_

She remembered how he broke out of the glacier again, his body _drenched _with water and flush with power. She knew she liked seeing him that way but wasn't sure why. _Maybe it's something about sex?_

_Hmm… _She completely tuned out the television trying to remember if she heard about how it was supposed to work. _Nope- nothin. You would think they would've covered that in school._

She remembered the beach, with him breaking out of the water again. Some weird sensation of warmth tingled through her skin, the same one she had been ignoring since she was a child. But this time it was different, she knew what she craved, instead of this ambiguous feeling of emptiness that she had been filling with inventing.

She wanted- no, _needed _someone's touch.

Her brain pulled up the sensation of Izuku applying the sun lotion on her back again. How good it felt, and how relaxed she go-

"THAT'S IT!"

She rushed off to her own dorm room.

* * *

Izuku was trying to relax under the warm water washing over him, rubbing the places that ached the most, but it didn't even help alleviate the general ache that filled his body.

Usually, Total Command let him just tense and relax rapidly to warm up his muscles and get them to relax, but with how torn they were, he didn't want to risk pulling things again.

"Ugh- guess that's going to have to be enough for no-"

"ZUKU!"

He yelped, trying to cover up his manhood. "MEI?!"

The woman in question was wearing her school-issued swimsuit with a manic look in her eyes and a blush on her face, carrying a towel and a folding plastic stool. "I have an idea!"

He was _panicking _. "Wh- wha!?"

"Here!" She tossed the towel on him, letting him cover up. "Sit on it! Imma give you a massage!"

He paused and considered it, rubbing his chin slowly "I-" His forearm cramped; a massage was sounding better and better. "If… If you want to."

Mei nodded violently and pulled him down onto the chair. "Just relax, okay? Think of it as payback for that time on the beach."

As she said that, he grew tense and his face flushed a deep red. "O-Ok- thank you, Mei."

She giggled. "Thank me after." He couldn't see it, but he almost _heard _her blush harder.

Then her hands went to work.

He knew she was dexterous, she couldn't build the things she built without having nimble and strong fingers, but he never knew her hands on his back could feel so damn _good _.

Mei was breathing slightly heavier, her hands gliding against his muscular back. The tingly sensation that had made her come up with this idea flared again, faintly pulsing every time Izuku groaned under her touch.

The feeling of her fingers working expertly through his knotted back and undoing the tension with precision made Izuku melt like putty in her hands.

Her breathing started becoming erratic and she felt Izuku starting to breathe faster under her hands too. His chest rose, muscles pushing against her hands with every strong breath.

She should've let him turn the water off first, as the hot water running over her was making the tingling worse- or better? She wasn't sure, her mind only focusing on the slight aching down in her pelvis and the urge to make him relax further, to make him_groan _like that more.

"Mei- it feels amazing," Izuku muttered, gulping like he wanted to say something else but held his tongue. "Thank you..."

"It's just your back, Izuku…" she nearly panted, her hands rubbing his lower back. And in a moment of losing herself, to his front, rubbing over his stomach and chest. "Does it ache here too?"

He grunted in approval, leaning back a bit to give her access to the area. "Y-yeah, the whole left side is…"

He was lost in the moment and if her breathing was anything to go by, she was too, her chest pressing up against his back with her chin hooked over his shoulder.

He felt like he was drowning in her touch and wondered for a brief second if this was what the girls felt when he hugged them. The ghosting of her breath as it came in short huffs feathered along his clavicle into the nape of his neck; the whole sensation created an electric current that jolted through him.

Mei didn't know what she was doing right now, but she knew she didn't ever want to stop. Her chest pressing against his back was sending shivers down her spine, enraging but satisfying the tingly sensation that made its home at the base of it. The feeling of being _empty _echoed through in wave after wave in her mind.

Maybe her hand could figure out what was wrong there...

Maybe his hand could fix it…

She blinked at the sudden new urge and pulled back, the tingling turning to a terrible ache at the loss of contact. _What was… _Confused and shocked by the sudden urge, she decided to end the massage.

"H-how do you feel now?" she mumbled, trying to suppress her desire to rub her hands against her thighs, succumbing to just rubbing them together in hopes of it at least diminishing the yearning slightly. "Any better?"

Izuku turned around, his eyes locking onto hers. For a brief moment, the tingling returned even harder than before at seeing how hazy his eyes had become, how flushed and almost drunk his face looked.

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips, his arms pulling her in and his tongue in her mouth as his thigh rubbed and pushed its way between hers.

Her arms wrapped around his neck instinctively, one hand going up and kiting through his extremely disheveled hair as the other rubbed the muscles of his upper back.

She felt like she was melting into him. Her skin was feeling so soft and so _hot _.

Then, as if noticing what he was doing, he pulled back, panting as he tried to collect himself. "Amazing… thank you, Mei."

She smiled, her ache forgotten for now. "Meet me at the workshop?"

He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. "See you there."

* * *

_"Y̼o̫u ̫ar̺e h͎o̘r̳nͅy," _Nana stated bluntly as he relaxed on a seat at the workshop, Mei soldering away at Mecha Might's new head.

_Yep._

_"I̘t'̻s̡ ͙not ̩re̠pr̺es̗s̨in̨g̺ shit"_

_Yep._

_"Y̼ou a͍re̦ ̢**e͇xt̟r̭e͔me̜ly̱** ͔h̰oṟnͅy̩,̬ Iz̘uk̭u- __" _Nana mumbled again. If he didn't know better he would call her shy. "_I̧ c̩aṉ te̯l̩l̩ be͚c̤aus̱e̻…̣_ _" _her voice strained growing low "_I̟ ̲am ͖t̜o̰o._ _"_

_Oh._

_"Wh͔y̹ did̙ ̳y̳ou̖ pu͢l̡l ba͕ck̤?" _she complained, Izuku's eyes suddenly straying away from Mei's form. He couldn't help but take her in, jumpsuit tied at her waist, a black tank top covering her rather busty frame. He hated to admit it, but he wanted it off, he wanted to feel her skin against his.

_Cause… cause... _He had no answer for her. They were dating and he had no doubt she wanted it too, with how her arms wrapped around his neck after he kissed her. _I don't know._

_Maybe I'm not ready…?_

Nana was quiet after that, and he took the cue to continue his line of thinking

_She pulled away, too… maybe we weren't... _He sighed, eyes locked onto her arm as she heaved the new chassis of the head up. _Am I being weird right now?_

_"Ye͖ah, ͔bu͜ṭ fr͕om ̻o̢n̗e̟ woma̮n̻ a̡bo̥u̧t̜ ͎a͢n͜o̤th͔e̞r,̬ let me̫ te͙ll yo̮u.̪.." _He felt the phantom sensation of someone holding his shoulder, pulling his ear close and whispering against it. "_Sh̲ę ̥i̲s **l̬o̯v͖ing** ịt~̗_"

He couldn't help but feel _something _twitch and his heart beat faster. _How did you do that?_

_"You ͇fe̺lt̫ ̯t̞hat?̠" _she hummed, he could feel her smile. _"We ̝are͟ ̟con͈n͢e̺cted̞ ̯a̗t̜ ͓th̤e̺ ̹b̗ra̱i̫n̞ ̳kid, I ca̟n ȩx̭cite̘ ̞neur͙o̠nsͅ he̺re̤ ̹an̞d-"_

He felt a touch against his thigh

_"Y͓ou f͟eel it~̯ ̯Ne̝at̪,̤ ̯r͜įght͉?"_

_Please stop…_

_"Ok, fin͈ę- ͓gett̫ing͕ m̢e̮ too̖ ̨t̻u̠rnḛd̮ o̲ņ i̱n h̞er̥e, ̲too̦…"̖_

* * *

This was a first.

Mei had dealt with that ache before, it was never this bad, but she had dealt with it. She just had to ignore it long enough, and building her babies always put her mind off of it enough.

But now... now her mind couldn't even focus on building with the ache, her tank top was too tight against her frame, but at the same time too loose. And every time she looked his way Izuku's eyes were on her.

Somehow that excited her, her brain going through more and more scenarios of him doing _stuff _with her. Maybe he would rip the damn clothes off that were agitating her so much, maybe massage her.

"Mei, watch ou-"

Izuku's hand was on her wrist immediately, pulling her hand away from the plate she was spot-welding.

She had almost touched her ungloved hand against the surface.

She hadn't even twisted her goggles to activate welding mode yet.

She looked at the way he had gently but firmly grabbed her. Her skin buzzed with the feeling of his skin against his. She followed his hand up to his arm, then to his face. "Thanks, Zuku," she mumbled.

She knew she was blushing.

"Wanna take a break? I'm getting kinda hungry," he responded back, his hand loosening, but still remaining on her wrist.

Food? Maybe that was the reason for the empty feeling?

"S-sure, I was feeling hungry too," she nodded, placing the welder down with a sigh.

* * *

The emptiness hadn't gone away.

If anything, watching him cook only made it worse.

She had told him she wanted whatever he wanted, which turned out to be katsudon.

Watching him pound the pork into the optimal thickness was- she couldn't even describe what it made her feel. It was like smelling food when she hadn't eaten for the whole day, but not knowing the source.

Also the serious look he got while cooking with the skill of a chef, his body moving in precise motions. She wondered if it was normal to be stuck up on such minute details. She never was one to watch someone so intently. _But… maybe it's love?_

Her face scrunched, _or maybe I'm being weir-_

"It's done," Izuku announced, turning with bowls in hand and cutting her thoughts short. She hadn't even felt the time pass.

"Your apron looks good on you," she mumbled out of reflex more than anything and continued staring at his hands before shaking her head. "Oh- thanks for the food!"

Izuku blushed at the compliment, setting the bowls down and taking his apron off. "Thank me after you eat it, you're drooling."

She didn't argue against it and dug in.

* * *

Ibara burst awake, face flush with what she had dreamt. The angel from 1-A...

...Conceiving a child with her.

She placed her hands on her cheeks feeling the warmth. _Was that- was that a message from God?_

_He blessed him with a quirk- now did He intend me to bless him with a child?_

_No- no _… she shook her head dispelling such sinful thoughts. _Must be me… I had impure thoughts-_

_I _**_am_ **_having impure thoughts..._

She sat up in her bed, swinging her legs to the side of it. Yes, she did have _him _still in her mind. His shirtless body glistening in the sunlig-

_Stop it!_

Ibara shook her head again. She might have had _him _in her mind, but she doubted anyone _else _could get him out of theirs either. Men were a rare sight to behold and he was an exemplary specimen in his own right. One blessed with good looks from God.

_And _he was blessed with a quirk to go along with it.

_Then… maybe the dream was a sign from Him?_

_But- then why was the dream so… Lewd?_

_No! Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Ibara. Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart._

_Well, I'm not a man and he isn't a woman,, so it's okay?_

_No! You know that isn't right._

_Alright, a-another verse. Um…_

Her traitorous mind turned to the beginning. To Genesis.

_Be fertile, then and multiply-_

_No!_

Ibara whined.

She could still feel the fullness she had dreamt of, now replaced with the reality of a pleasant-yet-not ache in her core. And the wetness down below. She looked down past her torso, staring into the culprit. _Blasphemous traitor!_

_It's- its the temptation of the Devi-_

_HER._

_Ashido! Of course! Those horns!_

She was the Hellspawn that corrupted her mind. Brought the Lucifer's touch upon her mind and body. The reason of her- of her having a dream like that- getting impregnated while she was still training for her calling in the greatest hero academy.

She couldn't be a rescue hero if she was too busy with motherhood. The hellspawn was trying to sway her away from her calling.

Though, perhaps she could engage more with orphanages and children in need when they weren't at U.A. Charity work helped her clear her head. She needed a clearer head before she went to interact with… _him, to _warn him about the demon in his mists.

"Why must I be tempted? I want to help people, I do not have time for such… _sinful _thoughts."

She wasn't ready for this, and Blood Queen would be livid if she had to drop out because she caved in on the temptation of the Devil and… and…

She remembered the dream vividly.

A screech tore through the dorms of 1B as Ibara lost control of her mind once more. After a few tense, panting minutes, she steeled herself.

"I'll just... go visit him. I'll talk to him- he is blessed by Him, being in his presence will help. Then I can email my Aunt about places where I can help people who were caught in collateral damage. It'll be a good way to spend the break."

She nodded again then went to get up, her thighs rubbing against each other causing a shiver to run up her spine.

"M-maybe a cold shower first."

* * *

After their lunch, Mei started to lounge on the couches of the common room due to the sleepiness the food had brought on. "Zuku you cook so welllll," she moaned, not willing to get up from her spot.

Izuku was in a similar state, the food weighing his body down so he could only lay down on the couch next to her. "Thanks- you don't want to go back to the workshop?"

She paused and flushed a little. "N-No, I can't think that straight right now- worried I might hurt someone."

He blinked. "You have grown more mature…" he muttered, trying to dispel the weird sensation of arousal spreading through him by looking back to the ceiling. "...wanna do something else then?"

"Just lie here, maybe nap," she mumbled, spreading her arms out. "It's more comfortable than I thought."

"I know right? I can just fall asleep here…"

"Midoriya- are you here?"

He jolted up at Midnight's voice entering the dormroom. "Kayama sensei?"

"Oh! Hey- Uh- this is gonna be weird to ask but…"

* * *

"So, Lunch Rush needed to go away for a mission?" Izuku asked as he stood in front of the skillet, cooking a burger patty for Midnight. _Wait, what kind of missions does Lunch Rush need to go on?_

_"Probably ones with starving victims?"_

_...Makes sense_

"Ye-yeah sorry about this," Midnight uttered back- shyly, blushing slightly.

Mei was sure that ache was just making her see things.

"It's really no problem. You were hungry right?" He looked to her over his shoulder with a smile. "Hope you like my cooking."

Mei blinked. _...I think I just fell for him again._

Midnight looked down shyly. She didn't know which was worse, someone younger than her being a better cook or the fact that her heart skipped a beat when he smiled at her like that. "S-still though, I got you off the couch and everything-"

"Meh, worth it." he shrugged as he flipped the patty over, eyes locked onto the sizzling piece of meat. "What do you want on this?"

"Oh, cheese and no buns," Midnight piped up, looking at the patty with hunger in her eyes. "On rice, if you have any left over."

He shot her another smile. "Interesting combination- wouldn't have guessed you ate something like that."

Mei laughed, "Yeah _right, _Mr. 'I can guess your favorite foods'."

His smile turned to a cute pout. "C'mon, you know that freaks people out."

Midnight looked lost for a second, but then smiled slightly. "So you knew?"

He pressed the spatula on the patty, letting some of the juice escape from the sizzling meat. "I had an inkling, rice cooker was on the whole time."

Midnight giggled and Izuku had to pause to consciously ignore how cute it sounded. "Not bad at all Midoriya, I might need to swing by here more often- if you wouldn't mind, of course."

"I'll message you while I'm making food tomorrow then," he confirmed as he placed the cheese on top of the patty. "It's nice to have your company."

Midnight blushed at the implication and tried to hide it as he turned around with the prepared meal, chopsticks in his other hand. "Here you go."

Midnight blinked at the utensil of choice then back at Izuku. "What, no knife?"

"No need," he smiled, taking a seat next to her. "Try it, you'll see."

She looked back at the delicious-looking meal and tried cutting the meat with the chopsticks. The patty cut clean with ease, the cheese stretching as she lifted the chunk up. "I- how?"

"Lunch Rush taught me, though she told me it was a secret I can't tell." He smiled embarrassedly, "Hope you don't mind it melting in your mouth."

Mei's ache throbbed harder.

Midnight looked mesmerized by the meat, extending her tongue out to catch the gooey cheese. She took the small portion into her mouth with a content moan, barely even chewing as she felt the meat dissolve in her mouth. "Midoriya, this tastes great! Your meat is the best I've ever had!"

Izuku was just staring, his face flushed as the woman ate "G-glad you like it-"

_"FU̼C̞K- i͖s͢ ̦s͓h̜e d̖o̱in̦g ̩th͙at̺ ̠on̖ p̠u̹rp̠ose̦?"̳ _ Izuku could practically feel Nana squirming in the corners of his mind.

_S-shut up, Nana-_

He could feel Nana's focus, his eyes being drawn to follow the squirming and twisting that Midnight was doing across from him, her throat making an exaggerated swallowing motion and her body squirming as if in pleasure. _"Ho̰w͍ ̤ar̖e y̬ou̦ e̺v̘eņ k̗eepi̜n͟-"_

_WILL. POWER._

His mental… Monologue was cut off by the slamming open front door of the dorms.

"IZUKU MIDORIYA!"

Midnight paused, another portion of meat and cheese on her tongue. Her eyes snapped to the source of the sound, along with Izuku who managed to tear his eyes off the woman and Mei, who looked ready to burst into flame.

"THERe is a demon in your…" Ibara's outburst died on her lips as she looked over the three of them..

"I- I knew it! Midnight Sensei _is _a succubus!" she yelled out again, her finger pointed at the taller woman accusingly.

Midnight blinked and swallowed the food. "I- by profession only?"

"That's wors-" the godly woman's stomach growled, and her mouth clamped shut, cheeks painted by red.

"One fried fish, served on a bed of spinach and greens with a side of toasted french loaf bread?" Izuku offered, getting up and dusting his hands.

Ibara's stomach growled again.

She couldn't refuse.

* * *

20 minutes and one fish, bread, and spinach meal later, both Ibara and Midnight were full, lazing on the couches next to Izuku and Mei.

"I must not give in to gluttony- but that was amazing Midoriya" Ibara sighed, content and slightly sleepy.

"Cafeteria is closed tomorrow too right? You can come and eat with us again if you want to of course" Izuku offered, currently melting into the sofa.

"I- I wouldn't want to cause that much trouble," Ibara answered, sitting on the couch with trained modesty, but leaning her back enough to get comfortable.

Izuku laughed "It's no trouble at all, and what is it the bible says, 'love thy neighbor' right?"

Ibara blushed. _Love… he loves me?_

_No, no, he is just quoting the Word._

Ibara's blush grew deeper. _...Why does that make me feel so light headed?_

As he turned back around to begin cleaning the dishes, Ibara couldn't help but stare at his dense, refined musculature that was visible even under his loose shirt. She licked her lips unconsciously.

_Calm yourself. Remember the woman at the well._ _Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst._

_Then why am I so thirsty?_

* * *

The day had ended with them lazing around on the couch, the frustrating ache still in Mei's stomach, still wanting his touch. That yearning that kept drawing her gaze to Izuku. To his lean form and messy green hair.

But she didn't act on it, she didn't know what to do with it after all the touching- maybe hugging him tight as they slept would help?

She didn't know, she only knew that when he asked if he could sleep shirtless the ache only worsened, her skin feeling like it was on fire, her eyes drawn to the perfect examples of defined muscle tone under his skin and that her throat had felt dry as a desert.

She thanked that the shirt she stole from his closet was comfortable and large enough to cover her thighs, not sticking to her skin at all. She honestly thought with how soft her skin felt the shirt would've stuck onto her.

At least the weird amount of sweat pooling between her legs would cool off with the lack of pants.

She shivered at the sensation of the covers getting pulled over her legs and body, hugging tightly to Izuku's side as if he alone was anchoring her to reality.

She honestly thought that was the case with how turbulent her mind had gotten.

Even with the ache, feeling his heartbeat under her hand, hearing her breath and sensing how warm he was set her mind at ease after a while, and sleep consumed her.

* * *

**A/N: As much as I would love to give you guys the rest of the chapter, FFN doesn't allow explicit sex on the fanfictions they host. **

**you can find the scene in this chapters' Ao3 counterpart and I hope you enjoy it. **

**It has the same name, so do I on the site, so it should be easy to find. see you all next week **


	44. Every heart sings a song

**There might be a spoiler in this chapter, but I won't even say what it's spoiling, I ask of you to give fellow readers the same courtesy.**

**with that being said, I'm back!**

**LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!**

* * *

Izuku softly grunted, rays of sunshine rousing him out of his slumber.

He hugged the soft mass next to him a little harder as his body acclimated to the waking world, causing Mei to mewl softly against his shoulder.

_Right… must have fallen asleep after all of... that._

_"M͈o̦rn̼ing͎, s̯unshi͉ne͚,̳" _Nana whispered in his head huskily, clearly just waking up herself. _"Ho̢w̡ ̧w̧a͢s ͓i̥t̡ ̣f͚or̰ ̬yo͢u̟?"_

He should've been embarrassed- or at least blushed- but he was strangely calm as he remembered the previous night. He caressed Mei's hair with a small smile on his face, enjoying the content smile spreading on hers.

_Good, it felt good. Thanks for the pointers, Nana. _He heard the woman in his head chuckle heartily and felt the faint sensation of his hair getting ruffled.

_"N͙o̲, t̼hͅan͎k y̝ou f̬or th̝at-͇ be͉e̬n ̙w̘a̳nting͟ ̰to͎ feel͎ ̤th̨a̧t f͔o̪r͕ ͅa w̲hi̘l͟e mysel͜f…"_

He almost laughed at the feeling of her blushing. _"W̨ai͙t, dḭd I say ̻t͕hat͚ ̹o̠u̪t ̭lo̝u̬d͖?"͢_

_You know I would've felt it even if you hadn't, right?_

* * *

Mei blinked slowly, her mind slowly rising out of the depths of sleep, staring at the soft reflections of the sun on Izuku's ceiling. _That… what was that…?_

_Was that sex?_

_Why did no one tell me it felt… so good?_

She groaned at the memories, her body shivering at the phantom sensations. She rolled over trying to ignore the feelings washing over her, just wanting to rub her face against her boyfriend's chest and go back to sleep.

The lack of boyfriend snapped her awake.

"Wha- Izuku?" She tossed the covers to the side, trying to find him, but instead only finding an empty bed. "W-was it all just a dream…?"

If anything, the soreness in her legs should've given it away, but she was too sleepy to notice such blatant hints.

The door to his room opened and Mei finched, pulling the covers to cover her body on reflex.

"Good morning Mei," Izuku greeted with a soft smile, holding a tray full of food in one hand pushing the door open with another.

_Did Izuku always look so… so handsome?_

"So It wasn't a dream…" she mumbled, looking down on his body. There was something attractive about seeing him just wearing an apron and shorts. She paused and touched her own cheek with her hand, _Yep, I'm blushing._

_Doing it a lot… _She couldn't help but smile more. _Didn't know blushing could feel so good..._

Izuku gently placed the tray on her lap with a smile. "Breakfast is served, hope you like it."

Mei didn't even blink before tugging at his apron and pulling him down to give him a soft kiss on the lips. "I love you."

Izuku chuckled softly. "I'm aware" He left a quick peck on her lips. "I love you too."

* * *

After her breakfast was done, Mei kicked her legs over the side of the bed. Then she attempted to get up.

_Attempted._

The moment actual weight was put on the limbs, they buckled and Mei almost face-planted on the floor, if not for Izuku's arm grabbing her shoulder and stabilizing her.

"...Is this normal?" she asked innocently, worry in her eyes but no regret.

"I don't know…" was the only response Izuku could give as he ignored the cackle echoing through his synapses. _Dammit, Nana..._

Putting the tray he was holding to the side, he pulled Mei upright; the woman had to hold onto his shoulder to stand upright. "...Maybe a warm bath will help?" he offered, looking into her eyes.

Mei nodded quickly, clinging onto him a little tighter "Alright- I think I can-" She let out a small yelp as he grabbed her from the back of her thighs and lifted her up onto his back.

"What, you thought I was gonna make you walk?" He chuckled softly.

Mei gave a half-hearted punch to his back, pouting against the nape of his neck. "Warn me next time..."

* * *

**Sorry to do this, but you gotta go to Ao3 for the full scene,**

**I am aware that there are fics with smut in them on this site, but I prefer to follow the user agreement.**

**It's my safety measure to keep the fic on the site. **

* * *

"How did we end up like this?" Izuku questioned Mei, who was snuggling onto him on the couch.

"Dunno… do you not like it?" she responded, rubbing a hand over his chest.

"Didn't say _that _…" Izuku mumbled back, smiling softly at her. "Wanna go to the workshop soon?"

He loved seeing the sparkles in her eyes whenever he said that. "Do you even need to ask?" she whispered back, faking offense.

"Guess not, but first: lunch?" he asked, gripping onto the couch and slowly sitting up.

Mei stole a kiss as their positions shifted, her sitting on his lap.

"I'd love some."

* * *

"So…" Izuku huffed, looking at the small group collected into the common rooms of 1-A's dorm. "Care to tell me how I'm cooking for five people today?"

Setsuna and Itsuka smiled sheepishly as Ibara stood behind them with the slightest 'I told you so' look.

"I-I'm sorry Midoriya, Ibara just sounded so _content _that we got curious…" Itsuka mumbled, grabbing onto Setsuna's shoulder and making her bow too.

"It's fine, it's fine." Izuku waved, trying to break the awkward atmosphere. "I hope you guys can wait, it's gonna take a little while longer to prepare for five."

He turned back to the boiling broth, trying to figure out how he was going to make more.

Itsuka looked at his back sheepishly. _Should've told him sooner…_

"So! Big Guy, whatcha making?" Setsuna sauntered into the kitchen to stare, or rather, attempt to stare, over Izuku's shoulder at the meal he was preparing.

Izuku hummed to himself, reaching over and grabbing more of the dashi stock and pouring it in. "Mushroom rice. Just gotta make some extra stock. We should have more than enough rice." He gestured to the rice cooker working further down the counter before leaning past Setsuna to grab a cutting board.

Setsuna's eyes were immediately drawn to the strip of skin that was exposed as the hem of his shirt rose. She cleared her throat, hoping her mouth wasn't too dry before speaking. "Can I help?"

"That'd be great, would you mind rinsing the mushrooms? They're in the colander, just need to go under the tap."

The green haired woman acquiesced, rinsing the mushrooms before handing them back to Izuku. As she attempted to help where she could, Setsuna was struck by how _domestic _this man who was a literal force of nature in the Sports Festival could be.

"I think I've got it from here if you wanna go back and join the others, thanks for the help." Izuku offered a smile that made the young woman's heart clench.

Setsuna turned on her heel before plopping back down on the couch next to Itsuka, her face unreadable.

Itsuka turned with concern. "You alright, girl?"

"...Husband material."

The redhead turned crimson. "W-what?"

Setsuna pointed accusingly toward the kitchen. "Husband. Material."

Itsuka glanced over and, upon seeing the tower of a man bustling around the kitchen happily humming to himself as he prepared lunch, she couldn't help but agree.

"He is, isn't he?" Mei injected herself into the conversation, Itsuka almost jumping out of her skin at the sudden interruption. "Wanna play a game while he finishes it up?"

The three students from 1-B looked at her with levels of curiosity and fear.

"Any of you played 'Car Wars' before?"

* * *

Itsuka hadn't heard the name of the board game, but overall it was a solid game, with math-heavy rules that she hadn't expected from a game of its kind. Then Mei let it slip that it was older than the millennium and things started clicking to place.

Honestly, it was slightly concerning how nonchalant she was with the info. She chalked up to 'Her being her' and focused on other issues.

Like Ibara's eyes slowly glazing over and the widening of Mei and Setsuna's _mutual _devious smirks.

The poor girl seemed to be under a lot of stress for some reason, and Mei's insistence they design their own vehicles… it was putting pressure on the poor woman.

Itsuka considered herself good at math, much like Setsuna, but Ibara struggled at times with the subject. She claimed it was due to her being unable to focus on numbers.

Itsuka was inclined to agree as she noticed Ibara using her hands to try and remember the numbers as she did math in her head.

"Hey Ibara, you have to mount weapons or you won't be able to participate!" Setsuna giggled, trying to get the fellow green head to add at least some offensive capabilities to her vehicle.

"Weapons, only to destroy! there's nothing in here useful for saving people. I do not condone violent games, Setsuna!" Ibara rebuked, huffing gently.

"Oh come on, everyone loves a little mayhem in a safe space. It's not like we'll be dealing with these weaponized cars ourselves as heroes!" Setsuna smirked, and Ibara shuddered, almost seeing the gears turn in her classmates head.

Mei was helping Ibara somewhat, mainly by providing a basic calculator to help with the math-heavy creation system. She had chosen a more modest frame, with a station wagon while Setsuna had gone for an explosive-laden sports car clearly built for the confetti rules.

Itsuka had gone for a basic build focused on reliability, over the flashier things Mei and Setsuna built. Ibara's refusal to arm her vehicle build had ground everything to a halt. She would admit to not truly looking forward to the incoming fights, but at least it would keep people occupied.

* * *

"Midoriya?" Nemuri asked, entering into the dorm rooms in her casual clothing for once: baggy hoodie and leggings. _Hope he doesn't mind…_

_Wait, why should I care about what he thinks I look like?!_

"Ah, Kayama-Sensei welcom-" Izuku paused a second when he saw her state of dress.

_I knew I should've dressed better! _She hissed internally at the taller man's gaze, flustered out of her mind.

_Wait… is... Is _**_he _**_blushing?_

She blinked as she noticed red seep onto Izuku's face.

_Did I forget to zip up the hoodie? _She looked down, trying to see if she was showing more skin than intended.

She wasn't

_Wh-what?_

She started blushing _even_ more in response. "Uh- hello?"

And like that, Izuku's trance was broken. Shaking his head slightly to shake the blood off his face. "Sorry- uh- you look cute."

"Th-thank you."

"SETSUNA!"

_Itsuka?_

Izuku and Midnight turned to the source of the shouting.

"You… why'd you blow yourself up!?" the redhead yelled, part of her competitive nature shining through at the end of the board game.

"Because you were about to kill me so I went for M.A.D.!" the greenhead chuckled with a sly grin.

"First Ibara drops out, then we have to tag-team Mei, and now you do this!? I thought we were going to have fun!" Itsuka huffed, pouting softly.

"Girls, the food is ready" Izuku chimed, all four heads snapping onto him.

"Just help me set up the table please."

Mei was the first to jump away from the table. "'Kay!"

* * *

The hospital staff looked at her with scrutiny. Considering her absence for the last 13 years, she didn't take any offense.

"You know…" the Nurse leading her to her mother's room broke the silence "There is no reason for her to be here any longer." The nurse gulped, worried that she had insulted her.

She hadn't.

"Her psych evaluations has been stable since her second year here, I don't know why the doctors haven't given her the all clear yet for her retur-"

"Endeavor has a lot of people in her pockets," Shoko mumbled softly. "It's probably not even the doctors that are blocking her release…"

The nurse gulped again. "I-I see…" She gestured at the door in front of them. "That's her room."

Shoko bowed slightly and thanked her for her time, slowly moving toward the door.

Her mother flinched as the door opened, but as she looked, her slight confusion melted away to a bright smile. "My little Snowflame…"

Shoko felt the words hit her like a punch to the gut, a small smile breaking across her face and tears escaping her eyes. "Mom…"

"You grew up into such a beautiful young woman…" Rei was tearing up herself.

The flowers she had brought fell to the ground forgotten as the hero-in-training took a hesitant step forward. "I- I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

Rei just smiled wider, wiping her eyes. "No- no it's fine, I'm just happy I got to see you one more time."

She didn't know how she got there, but the next moment she was hugging her Mother like it was the last time she would be able to do it, crying into her shoulder, her mother hugging back just as tightly. At that moment she was five again.

"L-love you 3000."

Her mother laughed, crying a little harder as if she had given up on hearing those words again until that moment.

"Love you 3000."

* * *

A sense of pride filled Izuku as he watched the girls eat his meal; Itsuka and Setsuna were clearly surprised by how good it tasted, while the other three happily dug in.

_"You ̨suŗe ̢yo̝u̗ wan̝t ̱t͚o b͍e a ͢h̖e̝r̞o ͔a͙n̙d not a͜ ho̻ṳse h͔u͉sba͙nd?̫ ͉" _Nana teased, causing his face to falter. _"I̯'͢m͙ pr̦et̥ty̧ sur̺e̠ ̝any̖ o̝f̳ t̡h̗e͇s̢e̝ ̧g͍ir̨ls̪ w̫ould̳ ͢lov̘e ͍ṯo com̡e ̲ba͜c̱k͈ to ỵour͈ ̥ạr̲m̗s ̗a̗ft̼e̖r ̢a ̦l̠o̟n͟g̢ ̼d͇ay̡'s w̬ork~͇"_

_I- you- _He was blushing madly and raised his plate to hide it. _Nana, you're just saying that!_

_"Yęah̺, ̱no.̯ Ad͟mit̜ it̡,̻ ͔I̟zu̺ku,̭ you͚ a̯re hͅusband̥ ma̺te̘r̩i͍al~͍" _He felt the phantom sensation of Nana hugging him from his back. _"I͚ ̙fo̘r̡ o̗ne ̡wǫu̝l͉d͖'͟ve loved͍ t̤o ͅhave y̬o̮u ̗a͜s ̜m̫y ͅhu̺s͚b̮an͕d̪…__"_

She started laughing as she felt him start to scream internally.

* * *

After the tear-fest ended, Rei continued to pet her daughter's hair calmly, enjoying the sensation she so dearly missed in the past 13 years.

"You know, they let me watch the Sports Festival…" she murmured, causing Shoko to stiffen under her hand. "I'm proud of you."

Shoko hugged her mother tighter, relishing in the affection. "But I only came third place…"

"I'm proud of you," Rei repeated, rubbing her head a little harder- almost playfully. "Now, that boy though…"

"Mom, no-" Shoko looked back up.

"My little Snowflame found herself a crush, hasn't she?" Rei cooed, combing a red strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear. "You looked cute snuggled up to him- he doesn't do that to you normally, right?"

"...He picked me up before," Shoko mumbled matter of factly, yet her reddened cheeks were hinting at her real emotions.

"We both know I didn't mean _that _part," Rei huffed, pouting cutely.

"...He is gentle normally- I just didn't give him any other option then- well…" Shoko trailed off. "I'm sorry…"

"What? No, no, why are you sorry?" Rei smiled. "Is it cause you used the fire?"

"...Yes" Shoko deflated against the bed. "I used he-"

"You know," Rei cut her off, looking out the window. "I want to get out of here, just to meet this 'Izuku Midoriya' to thank him for saying what I couldn't back then."

"What?" Shoko stuttered looking up to her mother.

"Back then… I said things I shouldn't have- things I didn't believe in." She was crying softly again. "It was always your power to use Shoko, all of it. But I lashed out at you…"

"It's 13 years too late, but I'm sorry, Shoko."

"I hope you can forgive me."

* * *

"Fuck off, Hag!" Katsumi yelled, dashing away from Mitsuki, who was holding a frilly dress.

"C'mon you lil' shit, it'll look cute!" the older Bakugou hissed, chasing her daughter down in the confines of their home "Just try it on for a second, I bet Izuku would like a pic!"

"_ I SAID NO!" _Katsumi screeched back, dashing behind the dinner table to put it between her and her mother. "HE WOULDN'T LIKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT ANYWAY!"

"OH YEAH?! THEN WHAT WOULD HE LIKE, HUH?!"

"MY HERO COSTUME!"

Mitsuki stopped. "Oh-"

"Oh, that boy is kinkier than I thought-" Suddenly the frilly dress was set on the couch. "Wonder if my old costumes would fit you…" Mitsuki mumbled as she climbed her way back up to her room.

"...wHAT?!"

* * *

"So…"

"So…" Ochako mumbled back, trying to read her mother's expression as she took another sip of her tea.

"How big?"

Ochako choked on her tea and started coughing "M-MOM!?"

"C'mon, I bet you snuck a peek already~" she huffed, smiling teasingly. "No way you were so touchy with _him _in the festival without seeing at least that much."

"Oh my God you are worse than Ashido," Ochako mumbled, hiding her face in her palms, pinkies out to keep herself from floating away.

"Ashido was the girl that ended up in her underwear, right? The one you flipped out of bounds?"

_Yes good steer the conversation away from that- _"Y-yeah, she's in our class."

"You know she's gonna steal him away from you if you don't pounce on him right?"

"She can't-" She slapped her mouth shut before she finished that thought, but it was too late.

Her mom was smirking.

"Gotcha~" she said with a wink.

_Oh no._

* * *

"She sure is going at it," Nemuri mused, sitting next to Izuku in the workshop. "Any clue what she's building?"

"She hasn't told me and with the way she builds, things become apparent only _after _its almost done…" Izuku mumbled back. "Basically I have no clue, but she sure is going at it fast today, faster than normal..."

"THATS CAUSE I'M INSPIRED!" Mei shouted triumphantly, tossing the welder to the side with expert precision and landing it perfectly in its holder "I CAN SEE EVERYTHING!"

"I'm not sure if I'm scared or impressed," Nemuri whispered, scooting slightly away from the _mad _scientist.

"With Mei, it's a good call to be both." Izuku shuddered "And pray that it doesn't blow up."

Nemuri looked ready to bolt as she turned fully to face the man. "Are you serious? That happens often?"

"More than you think." He simply shrugged, turning to face her as well. "You get used to it, it's a part of he-"

Suddenly his hand shot up to catch a metal plate that was shot across the workshop during one of Mei's engine tests, his head barely turning to see what he was doing.

Nemuri felt the wind ruffle her hair, looking back just in time to take a glimpse of his show of strength and dexterity.

"-Of her process," he finished, shaking his hand to get the numbness out. "Mei, c'mon, we have visitors."

"Sorry!"

Nemuri let an unsteady breath out as the sudden burst of adrenaline faded, her eyes still locked on Izuku.

_Does he do that on purpose?!_

* * *

Momo shifted warily at the sight of her mom and dad planning something.

Something she didn't agree on.

"So should the color theme of the marriage be green and red?" her mom asked, looking through swatches.

"Contrasting colors, yet it would look like a red rose with a stem. I approve," her dad mumbled, pulling out the dark green swatch and placing it next to a saturated red. "What do you think honey?"

"I think this is going too fast…" Momo mumbled, trying not to get flustered over the mental image of Izuku waiting for her at the end of the aisle, dressed in a tuxedo, and looking at her with love in his eyes…

She shook her head, trying to dispel the blush as her parents laughed at her dazed state.

"You got it bad, my little sunshine," her mom cooed, ruffling her hair. "Now, tell me: do you have a maid of honor in mind?"

"M-Mom, no- we aren't doing this- we aren't even engaged yet!" Momo stuttered out, fanning her face to try to get the blush to fade faster.

Her mom and dad looked at each other. "Yet," they repeated with small smiles on their faces. "They grow up so fast."

* * *

Muscles rippled over his powerful frame as Izuku lifted her into the air, his hands rough but gentle as he carried her to his bed.

"We shouldn't…"

Izuku laughed, his voice sounding like music to her ears. "Nemuri-" the woman moaned in response as Izuku used her given name. "I am yours, nothing could be more right."

Dexterous fingers undid her costume, easily tearing away at the thin fabric. Nemuri blushed, suddenly shy under Izuku' s gaze. A single hand tilted her chin up to face his.

"I love you, Nemuri."

Nemuri' s vision blurred green as she felt her body ripple with ecstasy, heat pooling in her lower stomach as her tense muscles quivered with effort.

Soft beeping began, at the edge of her senses as pleasure overrid what else she had.

"I-Izuku!"

The beeping crescendoed louder and louder until all she could feel was the rumbling of the mechanical beeps

_Wha-_

* * *

Nemuri rolled over, groaning as she hit her alarm clock, shutting down the incessant beeping.

_Day three- _she huffed. _Maybe I should get out- away from him for a while._

The vestiges of her latest dream resurfaced, causing her face to fill with color.

_He is eight years younger than I am- I shouldn't be feeling this way-_

Her phone beeped.

A message from Izuku.

'Breakfast is ready if you want some.'

'Also, I got a question for you… might be a little weird.'

She was beating herself up for getting excited about that last part.

'Be there in 10 minutes.'

Another text hit her phone, from Nozomi.

'Reminder that there is no rule against student-teacher relationships.'

Her face flushed again, slamming it against her pillow to muffle her screams.

_That rodent is gonna be the end of me..._


	45. The purpose of life is to be defeated

She didn't know what she expected, but it was certainly not _this _.

"Are you sure about this?" Nemuri asked as she pulled her hair into a ponytail, shaking her head a bit to let it sway. "It might not be safe, I've never used it against a man."

Izuku grinned, taking a seat on the floor of Training Hall Gamma. "It's fine, your quirk lets you release a pheromone right?"

"Yeah, puts people to sleep. I call it 'Narcoma', you probably can guess why." She smiled softly. "What even made you think of this anyway?"

"Well," he shrugged looking up at her for a second, "I felt like I was skimping on quirk training, plus I wanna see if this actually works…" His eyes hit the floor immediately as he remembered why he was avoiding looking at her.

Her outfit was a sports bra, a loose tank top, and some sweatpants..

And that tank top was now tossed to the side to allow her quirk better access.

_God dammit, calm down Izuku. She probably doesn't like being ogled like that..._

_"S͙ḫe ̝doẹs," _Nana added with finality.

_You shut up._

He scratched his cheek, trying to calm his blush down. "You don't mind, do you?"

Nemuri was blushing too, looking away. "After you feeding me three days in a row? I don't think I can say no to something this trivial." She thought for a second, then sat down next to him. "But just in case I need to catch you when you fall asleep…" she murmured, still looking away.

He nodded slowly. "Ready when you are."

Nemuri nodded as well and lilac gas started to emanate from her skin, bathing the area in a soft pink haze.

Izuku breathed in, letting the gas fill his lungs.

"You know, your quirk smells reall…" He couldn't finish the sentence as the pheromone kicked in, his eyes getting heavier and heavier.

"-y gooooo…"

He leaned to the side, then tumbled down into her lap, asleep.

She huffed softly, a small smile in her face. "Guessed you wouldn't be able to withstand that…"

She was blushing even as she started softly petting his curly mess of hair. A lewder part of her was disappointed, saddened that she couldn't do _anything _with him without him falling asleep.

She shook her head, trying to get the part to just shut up and letting her quirk start to fade.

It was gonna take a while for the aroma to fade, and even longer for him to wake up.

Her posture eased, now that she was effectively alone, looking down on the sleeping man.

"You look cute while you sleep…"

She almost had a heart attack when he twitched and started to wake up.

Panicking, she looked around, staring at the pink mist that still surrounded them.

"B-but how?"

He yawned, rubbing his eyes, looking up to her face from her lap. "Oh… this is familiar…"

A beat passed as Midnight looked down at him blushing redder and redder until her face felt like it was on fire.

He managed to wake up fully in that beat, flinching, then rolling out of her lap. "S-sorry- I didn't notice that you were-"

"H-how are you awake- my quirk is still-" She slapped her own cheeks. "Oh my god, you're immune-"

"I- I think so, yeah." He stood up to his full height, taking in another gasp of the pink mist.

"I don't feel sleepy…"

Nemuri just stared. Her mind immediately began whirring with the possibilities. "H-how?"

Izuku started laughing awkwardly. "Total Command, remember? Your quirk activates a neural pathway in anyone that breathes in your aroma…. And well…"

"You turned the pathway off..." she finished, still surprised that there was someone that could withstand her quirk.

"Yep, I had to fall asleep to find the pathway it seems like, but now I should be immune entirely…"

Nemuri huffed. "I'm kinda disappointed that you managed to nullify my quirk so easily…"

That got Izuku to start waving his hands around. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like your quirk was weak or anything- it's just-"

Nemuri let out a giggle, looking at the taller man devolve into a murmuring, stuttering mess. She got up smiling at the man who was still mumbling up a storm. "It's fine Midoriya, besides…"

Suddenly her leg kicked his out from under him, her hand gripping onto his shirt before he could fall down properly, capturing him in a weird position.

She licked her lips.

"No pro is just her quirk."

Izuku stared up at her with awe and amazement, almost making her internal screaming external.

_WHY DID I EVEN DO THIS?_

"Midnight-sensei?"

The sudden interruption caused her to let go, Izuku catching himself in a roll to avoid hitting his head and quickly standing up next to her. "Who was that?" Izuku asked.

"Togata?" Nemuri mumbled, looking through the dispersing smoke, then cleared her throat, standing straighter.

"Well, to what do we owe the pleasure of meeting you?" Midnight announced, smirking.

Izuku was not ready for the sudden change to her persona, flinching at the more seductive voice coming from his professor.

"We?" the person called out from the other side of the smoke. "You're not alone in there?"

"Oh, right, Midoriya, could you be a dear?" Midnight asked, leaning onto his shoulder softly.

"Ah- right, that thing I do- sure," he muttered.

_"Fun̢nͅy͇ ̫t̠h͔i̡ng is,̮ ̲even ̼i̝n he͜r̠e͢ I͈ don̝'t k̳n̢o̭w͔ wh͟ic̬h̭ p̣e̲rso͢na ͍yo̯u'r̩e ͉mor̟e ͟s͖mit̮ten wi̩th."_

_Shut up!_

He clapped with the power of One for All, the pink cloud surrounding them dispersing with the shockwave. Midnight gripped onto his shoulder to avoid getting tossed to the side by the gust of wind.

With the pheromones dispersed, the two saw the arrivals, a shorter girl with baby blue hair down to her hips bouncing from foot to foot, a muscular blonde with short spiky hair styled in what could be counted as a pompadour, and someone hiding behind her more muscular friend.

As soon as they saw him, the blue haired one shot forward, shooting something out of her hands to propel herself forward much like Katsumi would, crashing into his chest, the sudden attack causing both to tumble down onto the ground.

"IT'S YOU!"

Izuku flinched, unprepared for the assault or the sudden increase in volume. "...It's me?"

_"Howͅ ̳s̙trong ̜i̡s t͕hi̢s̺ ̨girlͅ?͖ ͕Y̩o̮u ̥we̙i̦gh ͍a̗ t͍on̨!" _Nana sounded almost impressed. _"A͟l͢s̩o, ̘n̗ic͙e͔ l͖and̘in̨g̰.̗ Y͎o̭u ̡ge̻t ̜'e̗m, cowgįr̙ḻ.͟" _She giggled as he felt her point at the woman's current position.

Izuku glanced down, only now noticing that in the tumble of the blue-haired woman's attack, she had ended up straddling his hips…

...and was now bouncing up and down, her hips grinding against his with each excited bounce, as she muttered off a veritable monologue worth of questions, unaware of the precarious position she had placed them in.

His mind clicked into gear, analyzing the sudden passenger on him. Supple body, but with every bounce, he could feel her strong muscles under the soft of her skin, probably not wearing a bra considering how her bountiful chest was movi-

_EYES UP._

"-and you have a QUIRK!? Like, I thought only women could get quirks, but then you were like WOOSH and BAM! You _flexed _a glacier off of you! You were all like 'POWER!'" She glanced over her shoulder, her hair whipping around like a shampoo commercial "Like Mira! Mira! Hey! You should do the 'power' thing with big, green, and muscly here!"

Izuku leaned up to look at Mira who was just laughing at her friend's antics. "C'mon Hado you can't just straddle a guy like that!"

"Hmmmm?" She turned around fully, kicking a leg over him to straddle him backwards "Why not? He doesn't seem to mind… or do you?" She looked over her shoulder at him, one blue eye piercing through his.

He couldn't respond.

"My, my, energetic as always, aren't you Hado?" Midnight teased, smirking. "I guess I should've expected that much _vigor _from UA's top three."

_Wait… top three?_

"Oh! You are-" Izuku couldn't help but get that fanboyish sparkle in his eyes, sitting up fully behind Nejire. "You three are UA's top students? People closest to All Might even among pro heroes?"

"That's us, alright!" Mira cheered, flexing with her arms to her sides before pointing at him "And you're the guy with the quirk from 1-A, no?"

"Izuku Midoriya, right?" Nejire asked, turning back to face him fully.

"Oh my God, the Big Three know me."

"OH MY GOD, THE BIG THREE KNOW ME!"

"WAIT, THEN THAT MEANS!" He looked at the woman still in his lap; baby blue hair, power to shoot out something yellow-"Nejire Hado? _The _Nejire Hado?"

He was vibrating with excitement.

"Your power output isn't even matched by Endeavor when it comes to pure strength! How does that work? I know your bio said that it was based on vitality but when you use it does it drain your vitality? Or is it a constant level you can sustain unless you get hurt? Does your vitality regenerate with you consuming food? Or is it with rest?" His hands were moving as if he was flipping through notes. "Why does it spiral? Were you able to pinpoint what that energy was? Is it plasma or light? Are you able to change the direction of your shots after you fire them?"

_"I- I̳zu̟ku,̫ ̩down ̜b͕oy.̦ ͕D̜ow̱n͇!" _Nana screeched, the sensation of getting smacked upside the head pulling Izuku out of his mumble-storm.

His eyes focused on Neijire, who was a blushing mess.

"I- uh- sorry, I got excited…"

"No-no-it's-fine-" she squeaked, her voice in a higher pitch than usual. "I-I'm just not used to…"

She trailed off, noticing her position finally: straddling his lap with him sitting up, her chest almost rubbing against his- wait, was she wearing a bra today?_ Oh God, can he see my n-_

She shot away from him, hiding behind Mira who was laughing boisterously at her sudden shyness. "You seem to know a lot about us, don't you?"

Izuku didn't even blink "Yes of course- Tamai Amajiki is behind you, right? Her quirk is amazing! Does she have a limit on how many organisms she could turn into at a ti-"

Mira couldn't help but laugh harder as she felt the heat of her friends blush against her back. "You really are a fanboy, huh?"

"I- uh I guess? Sorry is this weird?" he asked, finally standing up to look at the woman properly.

Even with his height and stature, Mira looked like she could challenge him when it came to intimidation.

"So that makes you Mira Togata, right? I don't know much about your quirk- I don't know if anyone else does either- but Lemillion is almost a household name at this point, I can't believe I'm meeting you!"

He noticed that he was suddenly looking at nothing, while Nejire and Tamai noticed that their shield was missing a moment later.

"Huh- wha-"

"So, is he always like this?" Mira asked, leaning onto Midnight, acting like she was whispering gossip in an exaggerated manner.

Midnight played along. "Yeah, he gets _real _fanboy-y the first time he meets any hero, it's kinda adorable though, right?"

Mira laughed again.

Izuku was starting to see how similar that laugh was to All Might's.

"Now, Midoriya." Mira turned to face him. He noticed that she wasn't wearing the UA provided gym gear, but a pale yellow shirt and shorts; they seemed similar in color to her hair now that he looked at them again.

"Wanna spar?"

Izuku blinked "Wait, really? I'd be honored!"

He glimpsed her start to fall into the ground, then she was in front of him, fist aimed for his gut.

The fight at the Noumu flashed before his eyes, body locking up for a second as everything in him went to overdrive. His eyes hardened as flow kicked in, one leg snapped behind him, his whole body pivoting away from the punch in a mere millisecond as his hand shot forward gripping the underside of Mira's wrist, pulling her forward for an Aikido lock-

His hand literally went through her wrist like she was just a hologram after the initial purchase against her skin, the woman laughing all the while she fazed through him, rolling to a stand behind him. "Good reflexes!"

"There's... no way for me to win, is there?" he mumbled, looking at the back of the woman.

"Nope~" Mira chuckled again.

* * *

"Ow…" Izuku huffed from his place on the floor, feeling bruises starting to form even with his higher regenerative capabilities. "I knew the Big Three weren't a joke but- I couldn't imagine the gap being this large between us."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you could keep up for that long," Nejire mumbled, looking at the man collapsed on the floor, "and that you're still conscious."

"Oh- that's cause of my quirk- I'm in _real _pain right now…" he muttered with a forced laugh. "Your punches are no joking matter, Lemillion."

Mira flexed, screaming 'power' as she did so, then shook her hands as if getting numbness out of them. "You can call me Mira and what even _is _your quirk? It felt like I was punching a brick wall back there… not to mention you didn't have the green lightning you showed off at the sports festival either!"

"Oh- Uh- that… well" He attempted to sit up, only to fail gloriously- Midnight laughing sadistically before giving a helping hand, struggling to pull the heavier man up to a seated position. "The lack of lightning wasn't for lack of trying." His face froze for a second as he realized that that rhymed. "Simply put, I need time to 'charge up' before I use it."

"And I didn't give you time! I see!" Mira punched her palm "Then that is a current weakness of yours, but I am sure you're aware."

"Painfully so-" Izuku smiled slightly, "-especially now."

Mira guffawed at the pun, almost doubling over "I like you, Midoriya!"

"But- yeah it just lets me control my body on a ...Organal? Level." He paused, scrunching his nose. "That's not a word. Um, I can control my body's organs and processes consciously."

"...An invisible quirk, huh?" Mira smiled. "No wonder we couldn't notice until you pulled that stuff with the glacier… but one question, you seem preceptive, what do you think _my _quirk is?"

Izuku paused, looking up to the blonde. "You can phase through objects, that much is obvious… but your speed is also unmatched- almost a teleportation…" He looked back down, pulling his hand up to his chin, wincing as he did. "But those two quirks are too far apart to be natural…

And while you can certainly phase through objects, it's not that clear that you can telepo-"

He flinched looking up. "You always popped out from the ground whenever you 'teleported'."

"Oh, you are good." Mira chuckled with slight pride. "When I go intangible using my quirk inside something solid, then become tangible again… you can guess the rest"

"You shoot out- incredible," Izuku mumbled with pure awe. "How did you even figure that one out?"

"Trial and error. What about you with your quirk?"

"I had an… _unnatural _growth spurt."

Mira guffawed again. "That'd do it, now I think It's time for us three to spar, right Tamai?"

"R-right," the black-haired girl muttered, now hiding behind the shorter Nejire.

Izuku could see her face; she had a shy beauty to her, it contrasted nicely with the bubbliness of Nejire, who was bouncing on the balls of her heels again after shaking off the shyness from earlier.

_"W̨ow̦- ̫a̯re͖ y̡ou̫ cṛu͓s̙hi͢ng̭ on all o̠f̭ ͇t͢h̬em?̜"̮ _Nana giggled _"D̮a̼mn.̣ ͚Y̲o̝u ̫g̣o̲,͕ ͓Casan̝oṿạ"_

_Wha- NO! _He gulped looking back down, trying to get the sensation of Nejire's body against his out of his head.

_"O͟h, ̜yo̭u ̭**a̝r̨e̮ ͜**cͅru̺sh͖i̻n̝g̟ o̘n͍ t͟h̬e̞ ͟bl̨ue ha͎i͢red o̞ne!͜ T̜hatͅ'̹s̫ ̜a͖dor̯a̪bl͓e!̖" _Nana teased. _"And so is̟ she!̘"̡_

_Nana... you're gonna be the death of me…_

_"O̫h s̟h̪ush̺ ̡yo̪u͕ bi̮g ba̯by̰,͚ ̪yo̯u̮ ̨lͅik̠ę it!͜"_

He kinda did.

* * *

"Ow-" he hissed gently, leaning away from the ball of cotton in Nemuri's hands.

"Told you it'd sting," she mumbled, pulling the ball away. "Recovery girl isn't in and you need those dressed properly."

"You're right, you're right," he mumbled, adjusting himself back. "I'll be still, go ahead."

Nemuri smiled softly, gently dressing the scrapes on his cheek and shoulders. "You're sure these won't scar, right?"

"They can't, got too many stem cells for that. They'll probably be healed over by this afternoon." He let out a soft forced laugh. "It's really no big deal."

Nemuri hesitated, then slapped his shoulder. "It's good that you heal that fast but don't let that get to your head! I don't want you hurting yourself too much cause 'you can heal', got that?"

Izuku's face froze, then broke out in a genuine smile. "I won't, don't worry Kayama-Sensei."

Nemuri blushed softly and pouted. "Good. Don't forget it."

Both were thinking the same thing in that very moment.

_That's… that's cheating- don't look at me like that._

* * *

"AH! Izuku!" Mei cheered as he stumbled his way into the workshop. "How was training?"

He chuckled heartily as Nemuri followed him in. "Learned a bunch, got beat to hell though. Did you behave?"

"She did, actually," Itsuka mumbled, flipping a page on her magazine. "Plus she promised to build me a flying motorcycle and if you get between me and that, we are gonna have problems, Izuku."

The man froze then looked between the girls. "Aight- aight, I won't stop you there- everyone ready for lunch?"

"BEFORE THAT!" Mei screamed, hugging into his chest. "Wanna do the honors?"

"The honors?" Izuku's eyebrow quirked upwards as he looked down on the woman crushing herself into his torso.

"Here!" She pulled back, pulling a remote out of her jumpsuit. "It's the 'on' button. Go ahead!"

Izuku looked at Mei then at the button. "What am I-"

"Just press iiit!" she insisted.

"Fine fine-" He looked at the remote again, flipped its cover, and pressed down on the bright red button.

Hydraulics hissed and he heard the soft hum of a rotary engine speeding up, followed by the low hiss of steam escaping.

He finally noticed the white canvas tarp over something on the side starting to move.

"Oh."

Mecha-Might rose back to his feet, "**Ī͈ ̱͆Ả̪M-**" one hand grabbing and pulling the tarp off of his massive frame- "**B͎̔OO̯͊T̬͞IN̜̎G̰͊ UP͚̕ ͈͂L̙̊IKE ̱̂Ă̹ ̦̔NO̟̾R̻̋MAL̯̈ ̭͠PË́͜R͎͞S̗̃ON̹̿!****"**

"Pretty sure normal people don't boot up," Izuku shot back with a teasing smile as Nemuri dropped into a fighting stance. He paused then looked over his shoulder to the woman in question. "It's fine Kayama-Sensei he won't attack"

"**Fat̹̽her̯͛ ͓́iṣ̕ ̅͟corr̲̽e͕̚c̰͐t, ̿͟there is̢̽ n̹͂o n̯̾ee͈͗d ͕̿t͢͝o st̼̓ar̰̽t ̣̕subroutinë̟́: ̯̆s̼͝p̳͘arring̱̏.̙̄ ̰͛A͓̽ ͔̋pleas̩͆u̫̇r̦͌e to͈͗ meet ̳͛ý͈ȯ̝u,̤̔ K̺͌ayama ̬̋Nē͔mur͖̊i** **"**

"What is with your voice…" the teacher mumbled, standing back up straight then bumping an elbow at Izuku. "Also, father?"

"He helped me build him ages ago, so he kinda is his father." Mei shrugged.

"That is… honestly kinda cute," Itsuka remarked, closing her magazine and looking at the mechanical marvel up close for the first time: arms large with synthetic muscles and hydraulics poking out from under its armored plating, its humanesque forms making up its massive torso, heavy joints all across the major pivoting points, armored to hell and back.

The machine looked strong. Stronger than what she had seen Izuku decapitate.

"So- how much of him was lost? Data wise, I mean," Izuku asked, looking at the shorter pinkette.

"Not much! Turns out he had a black box in his central chassis that held a copy of his current 'self'. Funny, I don't even think I had access to such heavy-duty tech when I was building him…" Mei paused, then spun to face the robot. "Wait- do you update your hardware on your own, Mecha-Might?"

"I ̟̍d̥͛o ̖̏nȏ̩ṱ̓,**" **he hissed quickly.

Too quickly.

"...Well, AI can't lie so…" Mei turned her back to her creation. "Guess I managed to build one when I was sleep-deprived!"

Izuku didn't buy that. Not one bit.

But the alternative was scarier so he let it go.

He shrugged. "Lunchtime?"

"Lunchtime!" the other three cheered, trying not to let Mecha Might's unblinking camera get to them.


	46. Carve a friend out of stone

Inko hummed a soft tune as she cooked another dish.

The fifth day in and this whole 'witness protection' thing was getting… cozy.

It was fulfilling, living with Toshiko. After Izuku left, the house had felt far too empty.

But now, with Toshiko around, her loneliness was… manageable. Even as the woman had to politely turn down most of the meals Inko prepared for her.

Honestly, being in such close contact with the woman, she started to worry about her safety; she looked way too malnourished for her own good, and her coughs…

Inko rubbed her own cheek. Worrying like that would give her wrinkles, Izuku alone was generating enough worry, any more added and her stress could've collapsed in on itself- she shook her head dispelling that.

He was a grown man and she trusted him to look after himself. And the women around him.

She sighed, he had grown up so fast…

And if her maternal instincts were right for the past few days- he had _really _grown up.

"Midoriya-san, are you alright?"

Toshiko's voice made her jump, the ladle in her hand almost dropping into the pot she was cooking in. Her quirk activated in the last second catching it in mid-air.

"Ya-Yagi, you scared me- don't sneak up on me like that you are gonna give me a heart attack!" She giggled slightly unable to keep it back "honestly I can't handle something like that in my age-"

Toshiko looked away with a soft blush spreading on her cheeks "y-you aren't that old Midoriya-san…"

Inko's cheeks started to burn too.

_Am I…_

* * *

"Home sweet home!" Mina cheered as she entered the dorms of 1-A, dropping her luggage on her sides and breathing in the smell of Izuku's cooking.

After so long away, the scent alone was making her stomach rumble.

"Ah, Mina, welcome back!" Izuku greeted, poking his head out from the kitchen before turning back around to continue sauteeing the onions. "Food's gonna be ready in a se-"

He paused as the woman hugged him from behind, laughing all the while. "Missed you, you hunk!"

He laughed back. "It hasn't been as lively without you here, any of you."

Mina was the first of class 1-A to return to the dorms and she was planning to use her alone time with him well.

Which, of course, meant teasing him senseless until he looked like a tomato.

_But… hugging him like this is fine too…_

_Just a little longer…_

She rubbed her face against his back affectionately, enjoying his warmth and the texture of his muscles against her cheek.

_God, _she had missed him.

"Uh, Mina?" he huffed, more confused than shy this time around.

Something about that frustrated her, but also excited her.

_...wonder what would happen if I just…_

Her hands started drifting down slowly, from his upper chest to his stomach, down further...

Her face was burning.

_Why isn't he reacting ye-_

"You having fun down there?" Izuku mumbled back with a tone she didn't know he could produce. So visceral and deep.

It was arousing.

"I- I uh…"

She was doing everything that worked on him before. Why wasn't he…

_Ok. _She breathed in. _Two choices. Back down._

_Or Plus Ultra._

Her hand went lower till it snuck under his waistband.

He flinched.

_Good._

"Just taking inventory~"

She didn't know she could even sound that sultry. Midnight must be rubbing off on her.

He groaned slightly, finally starting to blush; she could even see his ears getting redder. "O-Ok, Mina- you win."

While her hand was already there she rubbed over the area- not any lower, not any higher- the perfect teasing location. He groaned at her ministrations, his back pushing against her front.

_I could get used to this~_

"M-Mina, c'mon."

She giggled at how strained his voice was. It felt good that the 'big bad Izuku' could melt like this under her touch. "Everything seems to be in order~" she mewled, causing him to blush harder. "What's wrong? Don't you wanna go furth-"

"Oh! Ashido! You're back!"

Eiko's voice caused both of them to almost jump out of their skins, Mina's hand pulling out of his shorts in a split second. "Kiri! I didn't know you were coming back today too!" She spun around, trying to act natural.

Her massive lilac blush was getting in the way of that.

Eiko either didn't notice or ignored her friend's flustered state as she smiled. "Oh- yeah I would've told you but I kinda… forgot. Aww man, we could've taken the same train and everything too." Her face fell, turning into a small pout. "I messed up, I guess."

"NO, no, it's fine I didn't tell you either!" Mina cheered grabbing a hold of her free hand. "Why did you get back so soon, anyway?"

Eiko smiled the moment Mina's hand grabbed onto her own "Oh- uh," she scratched the back of her head, "this… this is kinda unmanly to admit, but I kinda missed the bathhouse over here." She chuckled weakly. "My back has been killing me…"

"Oh, the baths here are amazing" Izuku chimed, calm again after his initial fluster. Mina whined in her head about how unfair it was that Total Command let him _do _that. "Can't blame you for coming back for 'em."

"I know, right?!" she cheered back, slightly happier now that Izuku had validated her turmoil.

"And well…" Izuku tossed the ground beef into the pan, turning the heat down slightly and turning to face the two. "If the bath doesn't work on your back, I can try helping out."

Mina's face flushed. _Did he seriously…?_

Eiko fist pumped. "YEAH! Bet you know how to help with those! Since you know-" she coughed, growing a little meeker "Your back was aching after all the muscles you probably tore in the sports festival. S-sorry for bringing it up."

Mina's head was spinning. _She accepted!?_

Izuku's eyes widened. "Uh- Kirishima no need to get all… touchy about the festival; I lost, it's simple as that." He thumped his own chest. "Gotta learn from that and move on, you know?"

He paused, looking back up to the woman.

She was crying a single tear.

"Wait Kiri- I didn't-"

"T-That was so manly!" the girl wept, wiping the tear out of her eye with her forearm. "H-how do you keep being that manly! And inspirational!"

Mina paused, then started laughing. _That's the Kiri I know!. _"C'mon, lets go to the bath, horn buddy- I'm sure Izuku will bring our stuff to our doorstep in the meantime."

"As you wish." He bowed exaggeratedly, chuckling on his way back up. "Food's probably gonna be ready soon so don't take too long"

"We wooon't" Mina called back, already pushing her friend out of the room.

"Wait, Mina my towe-"

* * *

Eiko sighed contently, letting the hot water wash away her aches and alleviating the weight of her… rounder features. God, she loved the housing at UA.

"I still don't get why you use minimizers when you look like that," Mina mumbled, soaking nearby to the redhead, sneaking glimpses at her floating parts "They look… how do I say…"

Eiko chuckled, lifting them slightly. "They get in the way honestly," she huffed "Plus, the minimizer makes me look more manly, yeah?"

"I guess?" Mina shrugged, leaning back and looking away, letting her legs idly sway back and forth in the water of the large bath of UA. It was honestly a better fit for a hot spring than a university, but she wasn't gonna complain about that any time soon. "But don't you like- wanna be seen as a woman, too?"

Eiko started blushing "I- I… I mean you aren't wrong…" she let her body sink lower, hiding her mouth under the water. "But.. with how my body looks right now I'm pretty sure no one would see me as nearly as… womanly as you or Ochako…"

Mina blinked, her head suddenly snapping back to her friend. "What are you talking about?"

Eiko pouted, letting her head rise back out of the water to look away with a small frown.

Mina hadn't seen her this down since middle school.

"I mean- just look at me Mina, I look more like an anatomical model of muscles than a woman, you know?"

"And?"

It was Eiko's turn to snap her head back to look at her. "What do you mean 'and'? There is no way people would see me as-"

"Izuku does," Mina simply said. "You should've seen him in the bleachers, he almost started choking to death when your minimizer broke."

Eiko's cheeks were starting to match her hair in terms of hue. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Oh yeah?" Mina's eyebrow shot up. "Do you wanna bet on it?"

Eiko gulped. The gauntlet was thrown and it wasn't manly to back down from a challenge like that. "Sure. What're the rules?"

"Take him up on the back massage." Mina was smirking. Eiko didn't like it when she smirked like that. "And _don't _wear your minimizer. I'll take pictures. If he's flustered, I win."

"If he's not?"

"We both lose."

* * *

Eiko hadn't felt this kind of excitement in... well, technically, ever.

Izuku had laid down towels for the two of them, leaving them on top of her old clothes. She looked at the pile and sighed, putting them on, all except for the minimizer bra she had gotten so used to, pocketing that instead

It was weird letting her breasts out like this; her whole balance felt off.

But her mind was buzzing with excitement.

_Wonder if he'll… look at me like-_

_No, it isn't manly to worry like that. I should just... walk… out there…_

"Mina, I don't wanna do this."

"Backing out from a dare?" the pinkette teased back. "And here I thought you were _manly _."

_That's not fucking fair!_

"Fine!" she hissed, forcing a brave smile on her face. "Pretty sure he won't even notice!"

"Oh he will~" Mina teased as she pushed her forward. "Now c'mon, I wanna see his face!"

Eiko didn't resist that much, allowing her longtime friend to push her forward into the common room, near the kitchen area. Izuku was messing with the food prep still, which was making the wait so much worse.

Just standing there, silently fearing the moment he'd tur-

"Hey Izuku, we're out!"

_Why have you forsaken me, Mina?_

"Oh already? That was fast," Izuku responded back good-naturedly. "Food's gonna be ready in a second, just mixing the sau-"

He turned around to see Eiko sans minimizer, digging her heels against the ground, trying to push away from him as Mina held her down.

"-uuuuuce..." He was going crimson.

"See? I told you he'd react!" Mina giggled against her.

Eiko was utterly frozen in place.

Izuku, on the other hand, was trying to find his breath as he hid his head behind his arms. "Oh- uh, Kirishima- uh you decided to not wear… uh-"

Mina failed to hide her laughter, sputtering as she watched the two look at each other in various states of shock and awe. "Hey Izuku, catch!"

_Catch?_

Eiko suddenly felt the wall behind her- more commonly known as Mina- shift and push her forward.

Right into Izuku.

Eiko was suddenly struck by the sensation of his chest pushing against hers. She panicked, squinting her eyes shut and almost activating her quirk, barely holding back from turning into a mess of sharp rock in his arms.

_Wait, in his arms?_

She slowly opened one eye.

Izuku had listened to Mina and was gently holding onto her, his muscular arms wrapped around her now hardened skin. "You- you ok, Kirishima?"

"I uh…" She let her quirk fade, her skin softening against his frame. The sensation of it was weird, as if she was melting against him.

She loved it.

"...great, actually."

Izuku gulped, trying desperately not to focus on how soft Eiko was when her quirk wasn't activated.

Especially how soft she was around her-

_Focus, dammit._

"Er, hungry?"

Eiko nodded sharply, trying herself not to get lost in the sensation of being held by Izuku, and especially trying not to let out a whine when the man gently let go of her to lead her to the dining area.

Eiko sat down, focusing on anything that wasn't Izuku's powerful but gentle body or Mina's shit-eating grin.

Izuku ducked out of the dining area to ladle up two plates of spaghetti, careful not to spill any of the bolognese as he dished them out. He cracked some black pepper over the top and took the two plates in hand, strolling back into the dining area.

"Lunch is served, I hope you guys like it."

Mina winked at the man. "I'll eat _anything _you're serving." Wiggling her eyebrows to really sell the implications.

Izuku successfully ignored them with the skill of a professionally oblivious man.

_"You ͎kno̗w ̜s̱hę i̻s c̨om̖i͚n̗g ̞o̢n͇ ̥t̞o you, rḭgh̩t̮?̯" _Nana offered, her teasing grin echoing in his head like the chime of a bell.

_Is she? I can't tell, I'm too busy cooking, _Izuku 'lied' in return, going back to cooking more sauce,

He was having more visitors today after all.

"We are HERE!" Setsuna cheered as she almost kicked the door down. Only to immediately freeze in the spot as Eiko's and Mina's heads snapped up. "Oh you aren't alone-"

"Mina, Kirishima, meet Tokage, Kendou, and Shiozaki" he announced, gesturing at the women as they filed in and bowed in greeting "they are from 1-B- you might remember them from the Sports Festival"

"Oh yeah!" Eiko jumped to her feet "Nice to meet you personally, you were really manly in the tournament!"

"Oh God," Setsuna held in a giggle as Itsuka paled, "you've got your own Tetsutetsu"

Ibara gave her a side-eyed glare for taking the Lord's name in vain.

"Tetsu? OH RIGHT! The girl with the same quirk! How is she doing?" Eiko excitedly asked, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet as she shook Itsuka's hand.

Setsuna's eyes were glued to her _jiggle_. _...Damn._

"Oh, she went back to train at her local gym at the start of the break," Itsuka answered giving her a firm handshake back.

"Yeah, turns out they pay good money for being a sandbag in the gym, who knew?" Setsuna added with a devious glint in her eyes and a smirk on her lips.

She almost looked predatory.

"Oh, man that's manly! I should've seen if I could get a set up like that!" Eiko responded with a cheeriness the class B students didn't expect anyone but Tetsutetsu could achieve.

"Wow you really are like Tetsu- right Shiozaki?" Setsuna asked, bumping her elbow against the vine-haired woman.

"** _You._ **" was the only response she got from the woman.

"What are you-" All turned to stare at what got the normally tame Christian girl so… pissed off.

She was glaring with the white-hot fury of the god she believed in. "You, _You… hellspawn. _"

Setsuna turned to look at her classmate, who was pointing at Mina while her vines were writhing more every passing second, like a hoard of angry snakes getting more and more aggravated.

Mina tilted her head, She was used to such bullying in the past. _Just smile and play along... _"What do you mean?"

Ibara flinched as if struck. "Don't lie! You… you… Izuku, I'm sorry but I must remove your classmate from the dorm for everyone's safety." 

_"S̩he's̻ ̼gon̘na̲ wh͓a͍t?̯" _Nana voiced everyone's thoughts, though only Izuku heard it.

"We are BACK!" And now Mei, Nemuri and Mecha-Might had arrived.

"Silence Succubus! Take your mistress away with you!"

"That's new." Nemuri blinked before turning to Izuku. "Do you know what she is on about?"

"Something about Mina being a demon?-"

"SHE IS THE DEVIL-"

"**Sc̠̒a̧̓ns̪̉ ̝̆s̡h͇̐ow̞͞ ̕͢th̡̑at̗̑ ̩͑s͍͡he ̩̎i͇͗s ̛̥h̭̓ũ̢m̝an̟̅-͎̈** " Mecha-Might grunted, "**W̙̽ou͍͗ld ̹͗there be ͓̂a s̞͐ỉ̯g͍͗n̗͠if̱͗ȉͅcaṇ͐t d̠͞ī̪ff̢erenč͕e ̲̃b̙͒etweȇ̢ń̬ ḥ͞um͙͌an̹͒ a͙͝ṉ̆d̦̎ d̳̋e͇͞mon vitȃ̻ls, M̌other̕͢?̠̆**"

"Pretty sure they would be different," Mei shrugged, looking between the two. "Right, Zuku?"

"Not the time you two-" Izuku hissed turning back to the altercation taking place in front of him. "Shiozaki, I assure you Mina is as human as you or me, her horns and skin tone are just a byproduct of her quirk." Izuku wanted to hold his head in his hands. "Right Mina?"

"Oh no, I am definitely the devil incarnate~" Mina cooed, getting up slowly and walking towards Izuku with a visible sway to her hips. "I'm here to seduce you to my side Izuku~" she hugged his shoulders, throwing a half-lidded glance towards Ibara.

The woman intertwined her fingers in a praying position, her knuckles cracking at the sheer force under her hands. "God's righteous fur-"

"Shiozaki, She isn't being serious." Kendo pointed out, grabbing her classmates shoulder.

Setsuna was too busy laughing her ass off to help her calm Ibara down.

Nemuri looked ready to use her quirk if this went any closer to full on fighting.

"Mina. Tell the truth." Izuku borderline ordered, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her down and away causing her to pout.

"Aww Izuku- you are no fun…." She mumbled turning around and facing the woman. "I am not _actually _the Devil, I was just teasing you." she bowed down respectfully. Something even Izuku didn't expect to happen.

"Your lies won't work on me demon!" Ibara screamed her hair moving in to wrap themselves around her.

Everyone, including Mina, flinched at the sudden assault, and before she could react Izuku's strong hand gripped her shoulder, pulling her to the side, away from the attacking tendrils which wrapped around his other arm he had raised protectively.

"Shiozaki." He grunted out as the thorns dug into his skin a few drops of blood leaked from between the vines. "I will not stand for my classmates getting hurt. Are we clear?"

"I can not sit Idly as that demon corrupts this whole cla-"

Izuku's arm rolled, wrapping the vine around itself again. The sudden addition of the loop tugging Ibara closer to him in a sudden jerk, almost causing her to stumble onto her face. "**Are we clear?**"

Ibara's eyes locked onto his for a second, his larger frame almost towering over her as he glared back. There was a green inferno in his eyes.

Her breath hitched.

"My apologies, I didn't know what came over me." The vine wrapped around his arm grew lax, uncoiling leaving only the tell-tale pricks on his skin. "You have my deepest apologies, Ashido."

"It's- It's really no big deal…" the pinkette mumbled scratching her cheek.

"No- it is- I attacked you." She bowed deeply. "I'm really sorry- I- I don't know what was going through my head…"

"Must be going stir-crazy after being stationed at the dorms for so long-" Kendo mumbled, holding her shoulder. "Wanna work out after this? Burn some stress off?"

Ibara nodded softly. "Yes- Yes I think that would be for the best." Her eyes looked up to Izuku, the green inferno was still there in his eyes.

But the dangerous feeling of the flames had passed, replaced with compassion.

He was worried about her.

She looked away before her blush became too apparent. "S-sorry I should leave, I'm ruining lun-"

Izuku's sigh silenced her "Nah, nah it's fine, right Mina?"

"Oh? Oh yeah! You can still eat with us! I don't mind!"

Ibara breathed out her shoulders slumping a bit

"Thank you."

With the altercation over Izuku gave a sigh relaxing a bit "Scared me for a second there, glad to see you came to your senses"

Mina and Eiko were on him the next second "Midoriya! That was manly as hell but you are blee-"

"No I'm not" Izuku cut her off with a smirk pulling his arm up. And just as he said, the blood on his arm was already dry and clotted "That much is nothing"

Ibara bowed again "My apologies"

* * *

After, what ended up being a fun meal, the 1-B students headed out to the training grounds, along with Midnight who insisted on helping them with their training, Eiko, Mina, and Mei lounging in the common rooms, and Mecha Might flipping through channels.

Izuku mused at how weird the visual of the giant mechanical copy of All Might watching TV was as he finished the dishes.

"Oh right! Izuku!" Mina sat up, looking like she remembered a prank she wanted to do.

"_D̮id ̳y͢o̧u̺ ͇j̦u̫st͍ g͜et ̤șcar͔e̡d̹?_ _" _Nana teased in the back of his mind.

"You promised Kiri a back massage right?" She asked, a smirk growing on her face.

He flinched.

"I did." he sighed placing the last dish on the drying rack. "Kirishima do you want it now?"

"Oh- uhm- if you want to…" honestly he found her getting shy about it kinda cute.

Much to Nana's teasing approval.

* * *

He gulped, looking down on Eiko's back. She had laid face down at one of the couches, her head on her arms.

"You should take your shirt off," Mina suggested from the side giggling at how both of them started growing red at the suggestion.

"R-right!" she responded, managing to pull it over her head and off her body before Izuku could object.

_I can see them from behi- FOCUS._

Nana giggled.

He breathed out, trying to regain composure before he blew a fuse, and looked down.

He was right in his observation from the first day; even her back was as muscular as seemingly possible, a perfect map of the human muscular anatomy.

_"You eṉj̠oy͎in̘g t͓h͟e̗ v͢iew̭?͚"_

_Oh, shut up. I know _**_you_ **_are._

_"Guilt̖y͓ ̧as̘ ̥char̬ged" _Nana shrugged. _"Cͅ'̗m͚on,̢ ̭s̼he̢'̥s ̗g͜onna ̩g̙et̠ col̳d̹-͕ or̡ ̱do͇ yo̫u ͓**wan͜t̨** he͖r ̪to?"͉_

He sighed, looking down on Eiko again, she worriedly looked back over her shoulder. "Uh- do I look-"

"No, no just- been a while trying to remember where to start," he huffed, then rubbed his hands, increasing blood flow to get them warm to not cause any discomfort. "Ok, I'm starting-"

She nodded best she could and turned her head, closing her eyes and trying not to flinch as his warm hands made contact.

"Tell me if this gets uncomfortable, I'll try to find where the muscles are tense," he mumbled, probing around her back for any knots.

"O-ok," Eiko gave out with a shaky voice. She hadn't thought just having him _touch _her back would feel so good.

Izuku paused at her strained response but decided to continue after she didn't say anything. He found some knots near the base of her spine and his skilled fingers starting to apply pressure.

Mina giggled watching Eiko try holding her moans back, even though a pit was forming in her stomach. _Wonder if he'd do the same to me…_

Izuku grunted, trying to find a good angle to apply pressure properly. Her musculature, while nice to look at, was too dense to easily massage. Not while he was reaching over her like this, at least.

"Ok, I might need to move to get a better angle. Do you mind, Kirishima?" he asked, pulling his hands back for a second.

"S-sure, go ahead" _Just don't stop… _she almost whined, nodding sharply.

He rubbed the back of his head, trying to come to terms with the fact that he was _actually _doing this. He took a fortifying breath before he swung his leg over hers, straddling her thighs.

Eiko almost eeped as she buried her face deeper into her arms.

Mina clamped her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh too hard.

Mei looked away from the heavy machinery documentary she was watching, curiously smiled, then returned to her show.

Izuku's hands went back to work. Now with his weight behind his fingers, he could really apply pressure to her back, kneading her muscles down to the bone, relaxing even the sorest area.

Eiko felt like she was putty under his hands, the mewls of pleasure threatening to escape with every other caress of her back.

"Feeling better?" Mina asked in her usual teasing tone

"Y-yeP!" Eiko squeaked out.

Izuku paused, looking at the woman. "Should I stop?"

"Please don't," she squeaked out again, shaking her head.

He nodded and continued his ministrations.

She couldn't hold her moans back after first ten minutes.

By thirty, she was panting contently.

"Feeling better, Kirishima?"

"Yesh~" she slurred out with a dazed smile on her face that only Mina could see.

Izuku grunted in approval, getting up from his spot slowly. "Great, wear something warm around it so it doesn't lock up again after getting all that blood coursing through."

She shook her head, getting herself to settle down somewhat. "Oh- right- thank you, Midoriya"

He smiled. "Don't mention it."

* * *

As the afternoon went on, the rest of the class slowly filtered in. Kyouka rolled her eyes in a teasing way as Doi chatted with her about music, the blonde giving him a happy wave, while the punk just nodded in greeting with a soft smile etched on her face.

Tomoyo practically jogged in, her face stuck in a strange mask of calm that Izuku mentally noted he might have to address later. Rikku, Mai, and Kanna all quietly stepped into the dorms without much fanfare, each giving polite smiles and greetings.

It was still weird seeing Mai form a mouth on her hand to smile, but it was somewhat endearing.

Minerva seemed conflicted about something, mumbling too softly for him to hear clearly. She flinched for a second when she saw him before bowing her head, greeting him with no lewd remarks for once.

Izuku blinked but still responded with a friendly greeting.

Makaira and Hana seemed to be discussing some of the events from the festival still, speaking happily as they got situated back into the dorms. Yui, in her normal, flashy fashion, boldly declared to anyone who wanted to know about her mini-break that it was all a "secret" in spite of no one _actually _asking, as Tooru was more than happy to point out

Shoko seemed to be lighter than air, happier than Izuku had ever seen her in spite of her usual, impassive expression. He swore he spied the ghost of a smile on her face.

Maybe it was her eyes that were smiling.

Ochako walked in with Tsuyu in tow, the gravity-defying heroine looking more tired than usual, but she seemed to light up with a smile the moment she saw Izuku. She then quickly turned around to Tsuyu, talking about something or another with added enthusiasm.

Katsumi grumbled when she got to the door, but he could see the soft smirk on her face too. Eiko almost pouncing on her and starting to talk with her about upcoming training.

Izuku felt a bubble of joy fill his chest as the quiet dorms filled up with life again. It was almost complete, too, all that was missing was…

"Izuku!"

He turned with a smile to greet Momo. "Welcome back, vice repre-"

He heard her bags hit the floor and before he know it she was tackling him into a massive hug.

His body reacted before he had time to think, hugging her back and lifting her off the ground.

For a moment they were alone in the world.

"I missed you!" She cheered giggling at his return of her affection. He couldn't help but laugh along.

He had missed her.

"So…"

They both froze.

Suddenly the rest of the world faded in, and the reality kicked in.

They weren't alone.

In fact, all of class 1-A was in the common room.

"Not dating, huh?" Mina asked.


	47. I am two fools

Minerva didn't think today was going to go like _this_.

She was beaten into taught _not_ to act like the physical incarnation of lust by her mother during the four-day break. After all, the woman wanted some grandkids.

And what better person to have them with than the strapping young man that tore everyone apart in the sports festival.

Minerva could still remember her mother's drool even as the older woman had scolded her about being perverted.

It was horrifying to see her own mother act like that. But in the end, it gave her a chance to self-reflect.

So, she decided to hold her tongue the next time she saw him, as best she could, and see how Izuku would react.

The smile he shot back was enough of a confirmation that he preferred it this way.

The only question was... how long could she keep this up? Even now the random urges and thoughts she wanted to mutter kept coming, and she just wanted to shout them out.

Well, that was the only question she had before Momo hugged the man in a running tackle, which he returned happily, chuckling like…

Like they were a _couple_. One of those sickenly sweet adorable ones that caused large crowds to smile knowingly ignoring that they were probably banging _hardcore_ behind closed doors.

_Dammit. I wanna be like that with him too-_

_Focus. Focus- who knows, maybe he wants a harem._

_Being in his harem would be nice… especially if Momo is there to-_

_Wait, am I Bi?_

"What do you mean 'it's totally normal for a friend to hug another like that!'" Mina rebuked, getting louder ever so slightly at her exasperation, bringing Minerva out of her train of thought. "You didn't hug _me _like that when I got back, we're friends aren't we?"

"But you hugged me from behind!" Izuku shot back. "I _couldn't_ hug you back!"

"I- you- Izuku, I was _flirting _with you back there!" Mina admitted before pausing and turning a shade of purple after realizing what she had just said.

_Nice color on her…_ Minerva shook her head, trying to shove the idea out of her mind. Her sexual crisis could come later. Right now she had some juicy gossip to listen too.

Kyoka had started laughing. "It's fine, Mina, we all noticed, except Izuku. Pretty sure he needs someone to be that blunt to notice anythi-"

"And I was kinda flirting back-" Izuku cut in, pausing mid-statement, face starting to turn a shade of red. "I… should not have said that."

Minerva blinked and felt the world seem to shatter.

_What the actual fuck?!_

* * *

The class froze solid, even as Izuku frantically wished his quirk allowed him to erase memories, or time travel so he could knock himself out a minute before he opened his goddamn mouth.

"Wait- what?" Mina mumbled. "You _aren't_ dating Momo then? Why would you flirt back-" The pink skinned girl paled, her complexion fading to nearly human skin tones before blooming with a furious pallor, her expression contorting into… betrayal? "Oh my God, are you cheat-"

"I'm not!"

"HE'S NOT!"

Izuku looked at the source of the other sound: Momo and Ochako. The two looked at each other and joined the 'blushing mess' club.

Kyoka couldn't breathe, doubled over from trying to hold her laughter back in this mess.

"I KNEW IT!" Doi screeched pointing at all three. "You curly-haired, smooth-talking bastard! You're two-timing Uraraka and Yaoyorozu!"

"It is highly uncouth to accuse someone of that Kaminari!" Tomoyo exclaimed but without the usual arm chops. Honestly, she looked out of it, her eyes wide and frantic, and a blush high on her cheeks. "But- on the _chance_ that she is correct! How dare you use your role as class representative to leverage them into a relationship Midoriya!"

"What!?" All three turned to the new accuser. "When did that even- what?"

It was eerie how all three managed to say those words in sync, all three sharing matching looks of both confusion and frustration.

"This is fucking stupid," Katsumi huffed rolling her eyes and flaring sparks to break up the tense atmosphere. When most of the class jumped, she started striding through the crowd with purpose, making her way to Izuku, Eiko grabbing her shoulder before she could get too close to him.

The red haired girl looked torn and confused, eyeing both Bakugou and Midoriya with tension. "I know cheating is an unmanly thing to do, but-"

"Shit-Hair, do you _actually _think he is the kind of guy to cheat? Do _any _of you think he would cheat on someone like that?"

The moment the words left Katsumi's mouth the room froze, the panic dying down in an instant. Memories of the last few weeks, and of how shy and eager to help the green haired man was, flashed through people's thoughts, lingering guilt about their assumptions making many look down in shame.

"I- I guess not…" Eiko admitted, letting Katsumi's shoulder go before looking down in embarrassment.

"Besides." Katsumi finally made her way next to Izuku, standing tall next to the man; he had jumped back from Momo previously, almost pushing himself against the wall to the kitchen. She turned and gave the rest of the room a long, slow look before smirking.

Izuku looked between her and the rest of the group trying to figure out where this was goin-

Katsumi turned and shoved Izuku back, his shoulders pushed to the wall as one of the blonde's hands planted just over his shoulder, a scorch mark flaring next to his head. He felt her other hand wrap around the back of his head, fingers threading through his hair before pulling him into a needy kiss.

He resisted for a second, brain taking in just what was going on. Her mouth was hot and held a spicy sweet flavor that he vaguely recognized as her favorite hot sauce, as well as a faint burn that spread across his lips. Beneath that was another flavor, one that he remembered from that kiss during the sports festival. Something intrinsically… _Katsumi._ Her lips were soft and demanding, pulling at his to open his mouth wider as her hot breath filled his mouth, her body pushing up against his chest as she kissed him.

It had been just four days, but he had missed her taste. He found himself kissing back, the world fading away, until she pulled back with a popping sound, teeth dragging across his lower lip, the experience leaving him breathless and panting, bracing his back against the wall for support as his knees felt weak.

Turning, she reached up and ran a thumb across her lips and smiled at the rest of the girls, the tilt of her lips nearly mocking, and _radiating_ smug superiority.

"Have you never heard of _polyamory_, extras?"

The room was stunned silent as blushes and shocked expressions greeted her declaration. Doi inhaled to answer, blush barely hiding her confusion, before-

"I fucked him."

The room fell silent with shock and confusion once more as all eyes snapped onto Mei, who was smirking on the couch; long forgotten by the rest of the students.

The moment of silence extended until it became unbearable for everyone involved, before her foot snapped out and tapped the side of Mecha-Might where he sat nearby. "This is when you're supposed to do the thing."

"**O͔̅h,̘̀ ͇͐ri̦͌ght,**" Mecha Might hummed then stood up straight, panels sliding open to reveal party poppers going off on his shoulders and a digital kazoo sound echoing from its chest. "**Su̡͑r͔͡ṕ͇rise͂͟!**"

"Oh- that's now out in the open; thanks Mei, for throwing the bomb out there like that." Izuku slumped in a combination of embarrassment, blushing, and sheer mortification. Was this gonna be a thing? All of his private life on display with fireworks in the background? He facepalmed and let loose a bone-rattling sigh, before he turned towards the three girls closest to him, meeting a trio of unamused and somewhat envious stares. "Alright-" Izuku huffed, mind racing as thoughts about how to phrase this next part filled the void left by the initial fear of being found out. _Just gonna rolllll with the punches... _ "-I know you all probably-"

"YOU TAUGHT HER WHAT SEX MEANT?" Katsumi screeched "IZUKU, DO YOU KNOW NO FEAR?"

He blinked, accepted that, yes, he was gonna be interrupted all day apparently, and crossed his arms. "Look, I understand your fear, but it was more- more _complicated_ than that at the time," Izuku trailed off and mumbled, his originally broad-shouldered stance shrinking slightly with a neon blush growing on his face. _Failed step one… Fuck me, right?_

Nana's laughter caused him to shrink even more

_Can you please not? I am under a lot of stress already_

_"Oḫ k̹i̫d̫, ͇d̩o̠ ̖I ̞kno͎w̭,͈ its̟ ̢lik̰e͢ a ̺disạşte̠r movie͉ up̥ ̠in̫ hḛre̘!̧"_

Katsumi opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out, so she closed it again with a grunt.

"Oh, I was right," Kyoka huffed, making Katsumi and Izuku glance up to see her pacing around. "Every day was gonna be an 'eh, might as well happen' days. 'Boy in class turns out to have a harem of girlfriends': might as well happen." The punk girls voice was all but dripping in sarcasm.

"Please don't call it a harem…" Momo mumbled, hiding her face behind her hands, ears turning red as her blush bloomed across her skin when her friend lay out the situation so bluntly, albeit erroneously.

Kyoka didn't outwardly respond to that, instead she continued her monologue, "'The giant mechanical robot version of All Might has goddamn party tricks installed': might as well happen. 'First one to lose her virginity is the only girl that didn't even know what sex wa-" at that she froze.

"Wait what the fuck do you mean 'taught her what sex meant' Baka-gou?" Kyoka broke off her monologue to round on the blonde bombshell, her jacks and finger pointing accusatively at the woman.

"I meant that she didn't know what sex was." Katsumi deadpanned, even as rolled her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to have good heari-"

"Ok! OK! All of you, time out!" Mina screeched, pulling the attention back to herself while crossing her arms over her head. "So, are you saying you're open to more relationships?"

All chatter stopped as the jaws of the class started to unhinge one by one at the sheer audacity of the statement.

"I-" Ochako blanked and blinked, mouth moving as she tried to consider the question, before she looked at the other four, "wait... are we?"

"I don't fucking know! Don't look at me Angel-Face!" Katsumi, was suddenly blushing, hands up to deflect the question.

Mei just waved her hand around like she didn't mind either way.

Izuku slowly looked at Momo who shyly shrugged with a blush on her face.

As all four of his significant others turned towards him he facepalmed, rubbing his eyes and mulling over the question. "I'm...,_not sure_?" he huffed finally looking up with a pleading expression. He focused on Mina, and the others around her who were clearly interested. "It's… really kinda new for us too… we didn't really… talk about that yet?" He paused, looking between his four lovers; all seemed to be ok with letting him be the spokesperson. _Great. Sure. Let the introvert explain things. Thanks._

_Then again… I'm probably the only one that can tell this without my voice cracking… goddammit._

_"O͓h̯ ͙he̼rͅe̯ c͈om̳e the ḁft͙ershocks"_

Izuku ignored the woman in his head.

"It's- we're still figuring a lot of this out ourselves… not like any of us have any experience with this kind of thing, so… maybe at some point? Or maybe not? I really could not tell you."

Seeing the chance, Katsumi smirked and leaned towards Mina, crossed arms lifting and squeezing slightly upwards, exaggerating her slight bust as best she could_._

Izuku felt something twitch at the visual and fought back against it. _Nana I swear to god if you try that again-_

She laughed back _"I ̥w̠o̜n'͙t!̘ Ị ̣w̼on̩t̨!̠"_

"Why does it even matter Raccoon Eyes? You want in?"

"I-" Mina paused to process the information, cheeks turning lilac as she raised her hands, though her eyes drifted downwards. "...not sure, I mean, it's… tempting… _really tempting_"

"Did you just confess?" Tooru mumbled, looking at the whole mess. God, this was gonna give her a headache soon enough.

"...I think so?" Mina still looked like she hadn't realized the weight of her words, still distracted and flustered. "But like- who wouldn't want to join to _that_?" She gestured at Izuku, Ochako, Katsumi, and Momo, then nodded towards Mei.

"I- uhm…" The invisible girl didn't have the same visual response but people could _hear_ her blush in the stammered words. "It's a big commitment…"

"Interesting…." Shoko mumbled, playing with a strand of her hair.

Behind the crowd of teens and their 'serious discussion', the dorm's door opened, a familiar face coming in. "Hey Midoriya, I'm done with trai-" Kayama had walked through the door to the dorms only wearing her tank top and yoga pants, leaning against the doorframe and pausing as she took in the crowd "-ning... Hey, class!"

"...What are you _wearing?_" Mina asked, staring at the teacher in her casual wear.

Blinking, Kayama glanced down and than up, eyes raised in confusion. "Uhhh…. Workout clothes? My hero suit is fine and all but its not the most comfortable thing to wear casually, you know?" Kayama tilted her head, mumbling something about 'lack of support', before turning to Izuku. "What's going on in here, anyway?"

"I can probably make some adjustments to that!" Mei chirped before anyone else could respond.

"They are just explaining how their relationship works" Makaira answered, scratching her cheek. "Do you know how 'polyamory' works, Nemuri-Sensei?"

"Polya-" Kayama turned to the four separate from the rest of the class.

_...What?_

Then she glanced at the class, then back to the four, then back to the class.

**_What?!_**

Polyamory? Izuku? _really?_

"What?" she repeated out loud, her face starting to get redder slowly. "You- her- whaT?"

"I uh- we," Izuku gestured at the three next to him then pointed at Mei, "are in a relationship."

Kayama blinked multiple times as if trying to get a mirage out of her eyes, her blush getting worse and worse with every other blink. Soon her body couldn't handle the confusion and embarrassment, her quirk activating in a sudden burst.

Izuku only had a second to take in the sudden rush of pink smoke and that comforting sweet and tangy scent, before everyone else dropped like puppets with their strings cut, crumbling down.

"Nemuri?!"

"I PANICKED, SORRY!" Kayama hid her face as the burning blush turned her bright tomato red.

* * *

Eiji steepled her fingers as she rested her elbows on the cool, black marble of her desk. The past week had been… enlightening to say the least, and now she was faced with an interesting choice.

The UA internship offer forms sat in a stack on her desk. Normally she'd offer an internship to the winner of each year and just be done with it. After all, she only had time for the strong. Some might say she was a touch… harsh with how she handled her interns, but at the end of the day, none could say that she didn't leave those UA students with a firm handle on how to deal with those stronger than them.

She _had_ been intending this year to just send her offer off to Shoko and be done with things. Training her masterpiece to be her chance at toppling that _bitch_ of a number one was all that truly mattered, after all.

But then… _he_ appeared.

Just the thought sent a stirring through her, her legs clenching together involuntarily as she felt herself heat up.

_Izuku Midoriya_.

Eiji licked her lips, the fire on her shoulders flaring as she thought of all that she could teach that man. All the things she could offer him.

_He would be hers._

The image of his rippling muscles flexing in the sunlight flashed across her computer screen yet again. Ever since the festival, she had been replaying the footage of his matches on repeat. Had she indulged a bit while watching them? Of course. But they were mostly for research.

She studied him, watching him labor with every breath as he completed feats no normal man had ever accomplished before.

He was perfect.

If he chose to just be a donor, that would be enough. He would father the next prodigy of powerful quirk users in this world.

But if she could just bend him to her will the way she had planned?

If she could _break _him?

Eiji felt a hand begin to drift down to the heat between her legs even as she wrote his name down on the request form with the other.

_Then he would be hers... and he would be _**_perfect._**

* * *

Turns out carrying everyone to their rooms was gonna take more than the rest of the day, and it was midnight by the time Izuku stumbled into his own bedroom, falling face first onto his pillow next to an unconscious Mei, already mostly asleep.

"_T͉o͙d̖a̝y was̭ ̲fu̫n̮~__" _Nana teased in his head; he could feel her 'hand' on his back rubbing soothingly. "_You͚ a̞l̝righ̲t͙?"̩_

_I… not sure. _He rolled over, staring at the ceiling. _Now… now we're out in the open, out of the blue- honestly? I don't know _**_what_**_ to feel._

_"C̳l̝ose y͓our̠ ̺ey̰es f̩ǫr͎ ͅa͙ sec͖o͖nd, ̼w̬o̮u̖l̰d ͈you?"_

He was all too ready to comply with that request.

He closed his eyes and the world faded away as the darkness consumed him, leaving only a pinprick of light in his vision. The light grew and grew until it washed over him, the ethereal glow of his mental scape replacing the darkness.

"Oh. Here again…" he looked around, noticing that the previously white and empty void had an actual edge to his side this time, the white ending, replaced by the fading blues and whites of a sunny city-scape.

It felt like he was on top of a building staring out to Musutafu again. But the buildings, they were older.

Much older.

Yet it felt familiar oddly enough.

"H̻e̖y~"

He looked down to the edge again, noticing Nana sitting on the corner, watching the shifting cityscape.

"I t͕hin̼k I ṳse͕d ̭t̤o͢ wa̳tch ̡t͍h̦i̟s ̞t̡o͓ ̻c͔le̜ar̟ ̡my ̜mi̯nd̞,̫ w͢a̪nna̹ j̼oi̞ṋ m̻e?͓"

He chuckled weakly, sitting next to her. "You think? This view is too clear for it to not come from repeated observation- I _think_"

"Y̧ou ̜can't t͉e̘l͓ḻ ̪e̙ith̢er̜, huẖ?̰" she chuckled, bumping her shoulder against his. He blinked at the gentle show of affection. And how hard her shoulder had been. It was easy to forget how buff she was when he barely got to _see_ her. funny how he could always remember her face. "I͜t'̨s ̰beauṯif͚ul ̠e̯noug͍h ͍to̬ s̖t̙ay with̦ ͟you ̜evͅen̝ ąf̤te̼r̹ o͖ne ̘v͈i̼ew̡ḭng̡ ̭th̘ougḩ,̞ ṋo?"

"Sure is," he breathed out; even the scent of the ocean and wind were mixed into the vision. "Makes my worries feel small."

He didn't need to turn to know she was grinning. "Plu͎s̩ ̩yo̭ụ ͕sho͚ul̞d̺ ̹pro͓bͅa̮bl̲y̢ ̩w̫o͉rr͚y̙ ab̼out othe̗r ̖stu͕f̜f̪."

"Like?"

"If̦ yo͈u a̝r̲e ̼g͖ọnn̜a̢ n͎am̧e͔ ̠a̞ ki̟d a̱f̢te̤r͇ ̤m̨e"

He couldn't help but burst out laughing at that, and soon she joined him, her chuckles deep and full of life.

* * *

The next morning, Izuku was met by a surprise.

"Oh."

He looked at the pile of letters on the common room.

All for him.

Fan mail.

"Oh- oh, I knew this would happen eventually…" He rubbed his face._ It's too early for this…_

_And it just... Doesn't feel right._

_"W̭ell̨,͢ ̢it͉ **is̝ ̘**maͅi̝l͟ d̪a͎y ̰af̭t̮er al̪l̗… not̮ w̭ha̲t̘ y̢o̦u ͢exp̟e̬c̳t̘ed͟?͔" _Nana murmured. _"Wanna̤ ̪b̖e̟ṱ ͇y̰ou'r̬e̯ gͅon̙n̡ḁ ̞b̼e scarred̹ by ̦wha̗t͈'̠s͙ ̭i̱n ̯s̫om͇e of̘ these?"_

_Hey, quick question: can you delete memories in there? _He reached down and began shifting the pile into neat stacks as he tried to find some way to sort his sudden influx of mail… or just looking for anything that he recognized in the stacks.

_"Have̩n't̟ ̳ṯri̤ed to yeṭ,͓ so I ḍon̠'̜t ̤kno͇w͎."_

_Not taking the chances then._

"Good morning, Deku~" Ochako mumbled with a yawn as she stepped into the common room. "Weird- I don't remember going to bed… wait, did we get outed?" She blinked, that thought fading away as her eyes landed on the pile of letters. "What are those?"

"Fan mail, I think," he responded with a huff, but a soft smile still breaking out on his face. She was too cute of a sight in the morning to not smile. "How was your sleep?"

"Great! Felt like I was sleeping on a cloud!" She bounced on her heels, stepping up and leaning past him to glance at the mail with interest. "Missed my bed after 4 days without it."

He chuckled softly and pulled her into a warm hug, shocking her silent. A blush was blossoming on her face, the pink spots of her cheeks blending into the rest of her face. "D-Deku!"

"Hm?" he hummed down, pulling away from her a little to see her face, his hands sliding down to hook around her waist. "What's wrong?"

"Wh-what if people see?" she asked shyly, looking away, but her hands were still gripping onto his shirt.

"They already know, don't they?"

"I- I guess…" Then she blinked as if the thought finally clicking into place. "Wait, then that means…"

"I don't think we need to hide it anymore, do you?"

The effect was instant, her shy expression morphed into a shocked one, then immediately shifted into an excited smile. She hopped up to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him into an enthusiastic hug that held her off the ground, her knees locking around his hips as she burst out into a happy giggle. "Nope~ I missed you Deku!"

His arms wrapped tightly around her waist, helping support her off the ground. "Really? You missed me after just four days?"

"Four _long_ days!" she pouted, pulling herself higher on him until their foreheads pushed against each other, her thighs and stomach dragging over his abs as she shifted to look at him better. His eyes locked onto her's and the world started falling away again. Hues of chocolate brown were slowly washing away the colors of everything else.

Her sweet breath tickled his nose and he found himself leaning in without intending to. He wanted to be closer to the source, to taste Ochako again, and didn't find it in himself to resist anymore.

She smiled in return, her hand roaming up to kite through his hair as the other landed on his cheek, pinkie up to avoid activating her quirk, leading him to her mouth slowly.

When their lips finally touched again, a shiver ran down his spine; her taste, her smell, _everything_ just made him lose himself more and more in all the sensations and feelings that were kissing Ochako. Her lips were soft, but had a strange texture that was slightly rougher than he expected, and her taste… she was sweet. But not overpoweringly sweet. It was more the touch of sugar in a cup of coffee, or mochi after tea. Beyond the sweet, was a bite of something that was pure _Ochako. _She was also slow and sensual, her kiss wasn't needy, or wanting. It was determined and content, something that felt... easy.

It felt natural.

She moaned against his mouth, tugging at his lower lip needily as her hand in his hair tugged at it softly too, silently asking him for entrance. He was happy to oblige, lips parting and the faintest sense of tongue and hot breath and-

"Oh wow, so yesterday really wasn't a dream huh?" Hana muttered, forcing reality back onto both of their senses, teeth snapping shut and heads jerking apart.

Both eyes snapped open and slowly turned to the source, causing Hana to break into a cold sweat.

It was kinda scary, the second and third place of the sports festival giving her a combination death glare. Even in their weird position, with Ochako's legs wrapped around Izuku's waist, they looked intimidating.

It was kinda awe-inspiring if she had to be honest.

"Oh… Uh… D-did I interrupt something?"

_"Yes,_" both said in unison.

"Oh… Umm…. yeah…. sorry." With that Hana beat a quick retreat out of the common room sliding the door closed behind her, leaving Izuku and Ochako alone again.

She turned around first, and sighed with a faintly annoyed smile, before kissing along his jawline. Izuku blinked and shifted, before her voice spoke into his throat. "So… where were we?"

* * *

Miruko looked at the paper.

The paper she'd _refused _to fill out since becoming a hero.

She stared down the internship request form, the same one UA sent out to her every year. The same one she filled in with 'the best don't do team-ups' written in bold red letters.

She wanted to do the same this year too, it was a matter of principle after all.

And she wasn't about to break her principles.

Yes, she _might_ have said stuff in the sports festival about taking Izuku under her wing, thought about teaching him her moves but! That was just in the heat of the moment!

_Yes. Just in the heat of the moment…_

She stared at the paper again, her foot tapping against the ground.

_...Goddammit, Rumi- _she groaned in her head. _A guy acts strong and brash and you get weak in the knees. Breaking the rules you lived by for years..._

She tapped her foot till she couldn't anymore, her calf starting to ache from the constant motion. Huffing, she sat on her couch scratching behind her ears.

It was the first time she hadn't even sent the letter back for this long. _Four days… usually, it just stays here for like… 5 minutes?_

She hated that it was still in her home, causing all this turmoil in her. Yet she couldn't bring herself to tear it to shreds or write down what she usually did.

She yawned, her eyes growing half-lidded. Fighting herself was tiring after all.

"Wonder if there is a time limit…"

Her eyes snapped open. "Fuck there _is_ a time limit!"

She almost tore the letter to shreds trying to find the printed 'return by' date. But she managed to find it in the end with no issue.

"Sunday…"

She turned to look at her calendar

"Oh no."

* * *

"_Wo̪a̼h…__" _Nana mumbled in his head as the rest of his brain shorted out. Ochako finally pulled back, sucking on his tongue lightly before she let go, panting softly and trying to catch her breath.

His hair was a mess, and so was hers, both of their faces were flushed with color, silk threads of saliva connecting their mouths still intact even as they pulled apart.

"That- that should be enough for two of the days I missed you…" she huffed, still gripping onto his arms.

"We… we were apart for four days…" he panted back, slowly rising back up to his full height, still trying to catch the breath Ochako stole from him.

Her head tilted to the side and a soft smirk spread on her face. "Exactly~"

Another shiver ran up his spine as he smiled back on the shorter woman "You're scary sometimes, you know that, right?"

"Am I?" she asked in genuine shock, a hand against her cheek, thumb avoiding contact.

"Yep~" he cooed, gently holding her other hand. "You scare me with how much you make me love you."

Ochako couldn't hold her giggle in bursting out laughing. "You are such a dork!"

"Guilty as charged."

* * *

"Fuck, fuck fuck fuck!" Miruko paced back and forth as the phone rang, the dial of the UA buffer driving her nearly insane.

"C'mon c'mon! Pick up you rodent!" she screamed into the receiver of her phone, trying to get a hold of-

"You know it's rude to call me that, right?" Nozomi clicked in, cutting the dial tone, "Miruko, what can I do for you today?"

She stared at the form still on her desk. "I can't figure out the form- and I think I am about to run out of time for it- how do I?-"

"Oh, don't worry about that, that's just a formality- tell me which student finally got your interest and I can handle the paperwork from this side."

Her ears shot up high in surprise. "Oh."

"Izuku Midoriya, right?"

Miruko could feel the smirk on the rodent's face. She didn't even know if she _could _smirk. "I-."

Suddenly, she was tearing herself up about going through this again.

"Did I guess that right?" Nozomi repeated on the other side of the phone. "Cause if I didn't, I need to recall some paperwork"

"W-what do you mean it was already sent?"

"Yep, two days ago."

"So… I'm set?" she asked, some of the mental strain shifting away; if it was all done and fine, she couldn't help it.

"Of course, I couldn't let such a rare opportunity pass by right? Now if you don't mind, I have some other paperwork to finish."

Miruko hung up her phone slowly, then stared at it.

A few seconds passed as what just happened sunk in and she flopped on her couch screaming into her pillows.

* * *

Mina swallowed her bite, toying with the rest of her meal with the tip of her fork. "This feels weird…"

"What do you mean?" Eiko hummed, swallowing her mouth full of food, "feels normal to me?"

"YEAH!" she burst out, slamming her fork down. "We just learned that Izuku was in a relationship with Raka, Momo, Baka-gou, and Hatsume!" She pointed at the five eating their dinner quietly on the other side of the dinner table. "Things should be different!"

"...Why?" The redhead asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I- uh…"

"Raccoon Eyes!" Katsumi screamed from the other side "Try not to waste your brain-power before hero names tomorrow!"

The group turned to the blonde in various states of disappointment.

"What! It's teasing! Just friendly teasing!" the explosive young woman defended herself. Crossing her arms in the process.

Izuku just chuckled and patted her head gently.

"On second thought- no, no this is fine," Mina smiled. "This is perfectly fine."

Her smile turned to a smirk.

"Pretty sure you just admitted I was your friend, Baka-gou!"

The blonde paused, clearly replaying her last words before slamming her head to the table next to her plate. "FUCK!"

* * *

Mandalay sank into the chair she was sitting in. her whole morning was spent on doing the paperwork for the summer camp. It was done _again _now, but UA was probably gonna change the location _again_ sometime in the near future.

It was almost maddening that they kept getting pinged back and forth between UA-owned properties, trying to leave as little of a trail as possible. But after USJ it was probably a good strategy to avoid an attack like that again.

The only problem was, now they couldn't actually ask for an intern.

"We are hosting the summer camp. We can meet him then, right?"

Ragdoll raised a finger, before shrugging.

"It's probably better this way, Tiger probably needs time off to stabilize too."

"Talking of which-" Ragdoll made an exaggerated motion of checking the area before talking again. Honestly, with her quirk, the irony almost made Mandalay chuckle. "-just between us two while the other two are out- how are we gonna 'pixie-proof' his room"

"You think she would… no, she would." she craned her neck, standing up. "Why does she have to be that… lustful anyways?"

Ragdoll only turned with a cheshire smile on her face "I'm kinda tempted to sneak in myself if I were being honest"

"And are you not?" Mandalay asked placing a hand on her hip looking absolutely tired of all the jokes Ragdoll was making today. Yet she couldn't help but smile softly at her eccentricities.

"Maybe only avoiding the truth a little~" Ragdoll spun on her tiptoes, as if doing a bit "wonder how his mother looks"

Mandalay thought for a minute, trying to imagine him, only to remind herself of him breaking out of the glacier. Her face succumbing to a blush.

She didn't know what amazon gave birth to Izuku, but she felt a tinge of fear at the thought of meeting her.

Then pieces start to click for her.

_Overwhelming power… Tall, muscular stature…_

"Are you imagining All Might with green hair?" Ragdoll giggled "because that's what I'm imagining too"

"The resemblance is uncanny I have to admit…" Mandalay shrugged. "But she is probably someone unassuming instead"

Ragdoll blew a raspberry "What are the odds of that?"

* * *

Inko sneezed, causing Toshiko to flinch slightly at the sound.

"Sorry- sorry someone's probably just talking about me"

"Right…"

Toshiko gently pulled her arm away from her shoulder, where she was trying to place it for a long time.

* * *

"Pretty high, does your mom look like you?"

"Kinda? She is my mom after all- what do you not look like her?"

Mandalay paused. "I mean yeah but- I still think his mom is gonna be nothing like him…"

"Wanna bet on it?"

Mandalay sated down her sister in arms " what are the conditions?"

"You win, I do whatever you want me to do for a week, If I win, I get to do the same to you."

"Those are very open ended." Mandalay mused humming softly for a while as she thought. "Fine. game on."

* * *

"Morning class," Aizawa grunted, rubbing her newly de-bandaged face. She hated that whenever Recovery Girl healed her, her face gained a shine to it. She didn't have the energy to have a good skin dammit.

Mina and Doi joked around, mumbling a slow 'good morning sensei' causing her eye to twitch.

"...That aside. Today's Hero informatics class is going to be a special one, I hope you all are ready."

Eiko, Doi, and Mina froze solid.

"You are going to come up with hero aliases."

The whole class jumped to their feet to scream out a 'Yeah' that would make Present Mic proud.

"Ok. Ok, but first" Aizawa clicked on the remote in her hands, the screen behind her coming to life displaying the names of the students "we got all of your internship offers. Normally it's quite spread out. But this time around…" She sighed, turning to stare at Izuku "why did you have to be in my class?"

"Sensei?"

She clicked again and the names started growing bars to their sides, indicating the number of offers the students got, their names rearranging themselves to a ranking with descending offer count.

Izuku's bar didn't even fit the screen.

"Needless to say, everyone wanted to send an offer to the 'first male with a quirk' imagine that'

Izuku could feel the envious stares on his skin, and the blush creep up his cheeks.

_I swear i have that disabled._

___  
_An innocent whistle came from his subconscious.

_Fuck._

"No matter, this year we allowed each pro to send two offers to each class, instead of just one, so he didn't steal any of your offers."

Izuku felt the stares start to begrudgingly fade, and he started being able to breathe again.

While Izuku had an overwhelming lead, he was followed by Shoko and Bakugou who were tied for second, Ochako came in at a close third with Momo a far off fourth.

"Huh? Momo is fourth?" Mina mumbled looking at the screen "wonder why she is so high?"

Izuku turned to her "...Ashido did you forget that she created an anti-tank rifle and used it freely on the race? Showing off how powerful her quirk could be?"

"The only reason she lost on the tournament was cause Shinsou can control minds, any pro worth her salt wouldn't take that as a bad mark." came the confirmation from Kyouka.

"Oh yeaaaahhhh…" Mina rubbed the back of her head, but sneaked a look to the back of the classroom.

Momo's face was matching her tie.

_Heh._

"You done?" Aizawa huffed getting slightly agitated. "We need to get to hero names before _She_ gets here. It's not logical to-"

"Not start prepping for the oncoming TA, Hey again class!" Midnight strolled into the class, stretching out as she made her way to the teacher's podium.

"Yes. that." Aizawa huffed, rubbing her face again "whatever, you got this. I am going to take a nap."

The class tried to hold back their chuckles as Aizawa wrapped herself in her sleeping bag and rolled to the side, falling asleep even as she vanished behind the teacher's desk.

"I swear she can fall asleep faster than my quirk can _make_ people fall asleep…" Midnight mumbled looking at her colleague. "Anyway, PUTTING THAT ASIDE! Today's an important day class, do you know why?"

"Cause we are going to be picking hero names?" Hana answered.

"Exactly! And hero names are the cornerstone what any hero is!" Midnight cheered, somehow ending with one leg perched on the desk and the other on the chair behind it.

Izuku smiled at how lively she was.

"Hero names reflect _what _a hero is, the image they want to broadcast out into the world! It's an important tool to truly bring your dreams to reality." Her sweet smile turned sadistic "But be warned, this is an important decision. The name you pick today may be what the world calls you for the rest of your career."

She clapped her hands "well give or take your loved ones."

Suddenly Izuku blushed remembering that he called her by her civilian name maybe one too many times.

"Now. Who is ready to name themselves?!"


	48. A struggle for our minds

"No."

Mina opened her mouth to argue.

"Absolutely not," Midnight repeated, crossing her arms under her bust. "The connotations are far too grim to be your hero name."

"Your name is 'The R-18 Hero: Midnight!' How's this any worse!?" she demanded, tapping the board with her new hero name on the podium. "'The Acidic Hero: Alien Queen' is a good name for a hero!"

"First of all being 'R-18' is nowhere close to being a parasitic, murderous killing machine. Second, I'm pretty sure that's still copyrighted."

"Since when did that stop anyone?!"

Midnight sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "Look if you don't want to be called 'Pinky' in most media cause they can't say your hero name, go ahead."

"Fine... I'll go change it then..." she mumbled, finally giving up.

"Wait, wait." Izuku. raised his arm. Honestly, he was having a field day today; for a hero nerd like him, this was just too exciting. "What about 'Xeno' as your hero name?"

Mina paused, looking at the man, then back at Midnight with a smile. "What do you think, teach?"

Midnight rubbed her chin. "Xeno like 'Xenomorph'? It sounds friendlier and means 'stranger' but has been connotated with extraterrestrials… But more importantly, it's just a proper noun that hasn't been copyrighted." She pulled her hand away with a smile. "Are _you _okay with it?"

"Ye! Thanks, Izuku!"

He smiled broadly. "Anytime, Xeno!"

The class broke out in a silent giggle at that. It was just too heartwarming watching the man they got to know and learn about, a man that looked so intimidating from afar with all the power he tossed around, to act so much like an excited kid in a toy store.

"I have been thinking about this for a while… ever since I had siblings, in fact," Tsuyu ribbited, walking up to the podium with her board in hand.

As always, the monotone tone she used caused people to quirk their eyebrows in interest and curiosity. It was weird how unreadable she could be even when she claimed to be 'blunt'.

_Maybe that's why she is used to saying what's on her mind, cause people can't read her expression or tone of voice?_

_"S͍ho̗u͔ld͉n'̭t̢ yo̙u ͇b̧e̱ t͟h̳ink͚in͉g̼ ̥o̩f a͢ ̙hẹr͔o͢ na͓m̘e i̜ns̙te̤a̖d ̖o͉f ana͕ly͕zi͔ng y͜our͓ ͎c͔l̖a̲s̮sm͙a̤te͢?̺" _Nana pestered

_I can do both __, Mom._

"_O̼h͙?͟ I cạn ̫b̡e yo̟u̮r͟ mo̱m̞my if ̰t̹h͕at͕'s ̻how̳ ͍y͍o̲u wan͚t ̧it~_ _"_

He paused, his face getting redder as he almost slammed his head on his desk, writing out his possible hero names. _Mistakes were made._

_"Oh͖ h̼us̠h. Yo̢u ḽik̬e ̻i͢t.̗" _He felt her touch on his cheek. _"I'̪m̱ ͕not ̤_jus͇t̹_ ̼s̘ay̭i̧ng t͚hat,̫ I ̜k͙now̧ ͔i͓t̙.̳__"_

_Note to self, get Recovery Girl to remove you._

_"Aw̢w.̦"_

"Froppy," Tsuyu announced finally, tapping her board on the podium.

The whole class started chanting the name.

Izuku joined in.

None of them noticed Tomoyo glaring at her board at the back of the class.

Staring at the letters she had already written down, gripping the marker tighter and tighter, not daring to finish the name.

'In-'

* * *

She was panicking.

She hadn't even panicked this hard in USJ. She shook as she rode the first train back to the hospital where she was born. It was specialized for heroes, away from the pestering gaze of the media and full of confidentiality.

It was the only place that wouldn't leak out the fall of Ingenium.

When she finally arrived at the hospital, she ran as fast as her legs could carry without activating her quirk.

She thought she was prepared to see anything, but she wasn't ready to see her sister, stomach open with machinery attached to her, life support doing its best to keep her stable as the doctors continued their work.

She crumbled against the glass of the observation deck, bawling her eyes out even as her mother tried to comfort her.

* * *

"The Freshly Picked Hero: Grape Rush!" Minerva announced, hidden behind the podium as she held the board over it.

"Catchy name!" Midnight smiled and gave a thumbs up. The diminutive girl was smiling at the compliment as she trodded back to her seat.

Katsumi took her place and slammed her sign down on the podium.

"Queen Explosion Murder!"

"You're joking, right?" Midnight asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You want your hero name to have the word 'murder' in it?"

Katsumi started arguing back.

Tomoyo tuned out the classroom.

'Inge-'

* * *

After three slow, miserable days, her sister was finally stable enough for visitation. Three long days of waiting, not knowing if she was going to survive, but finally, her sister was safe.

But why?

Why couldn't she get comfortable?

Tomoyo's hands curled into fists on her lap as she sat on her sister's bedside; the constant beeping of the machinery and the continuous humming of the respirators attached to her was driving her insane.

Their mother couldn't make it as she was trying her best to handle the turmoil at their hero agency.

Much like All Might, her sister was the pillar that carried their hero agency.

And that pillar was currently crumbling.

She wasn't supposed to be.

She wasn't even supposed to be _here _.

Machinery wasn't what was supposed to be around Tensa, only her hero costume.

"Tomoyo," her sister wheezed, groggy half-lidded eyes looking towards her.

Unfocused, glassy.

That's not how a hero is supposed to look.

That's not how her _older sister _is supposed to look!

Her mouth quirked up slightly, managing a tired smile. " I'm," she wheezed, even with the oxygen mask on her face, she was having trouble inhaling. "Glad... I got to see you again."

Tomoyo blinked, trying to keep her tears unshed.

"Sorry." She smiled, closing her eyes and breathing out as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. "I'm sure... I look like a mess."

"Don't say that," Tomoyo mumbled, pulling her glasses down and wiping her eyes, trying to keep her composure. "You're going to be fine. Things like this happen."

Tomoyo heard her sister have trouble gulping.

"Sis… I can't feel... my legs."

Tomoyo felt like she was punched in the gut, all the air leaving her lungs as she breathed out.

"The docs said… it's permanent… I can't be a hero... anymore."

Tomoyo's vision was shaking, her eyes not being able to focus on her sister.

"I'm sorry... lil' sis, this is the end... of Ingenium."

"N-no- no it can't be! You- is this one of your pranks?" She knew she was in denial.

Knowing it only made it worse.

Her sister gave a single, dry chuckle. "I'm not… that evil."

"Ingenium can't end! Not- not here!" Tomoyo choked out with a sob. "Y-you can't-"

"I can't."Tensa wheezed, Tomoyo's mouth clamping shut instantly even as her eyes continued to shed tears. "I can't... carry that name… anymore."

"You. Can."

Her hand shakily rose from the bed, landing on Tomoyo's fist.

She couldn't even hold her sister's hand properly because of the IV needle in it.

"Tomoyo, _you _can... carry that name now."

* * *

Tomoyo looked at her board one last time.

_I'm sorry sister, I don't-_

She erased what she had written so far.

_I can't measure up to that name._

She sighed, deflating onto her chair, pulling her glasses off and rubbing her eyes again, trying to keep her composure.

For her classmates, nothing was wrong. Ingenium was still there.

She couldn't let them know that she wasn't.

* * *

Rain dripped against the window of the hospital room like a scene out of a bad movie. Tomoyo glared into the oppressive darkness of the stormy night, her eyes looking over the lights of cars passing by, but not really focusing on anything as she twirled a pencil between her fingers.

Her mind was elsewhere.

_Stain._

It was _her _fault. _She _had struck Tensa down.

Ingenium wasn't a villain nor a fraud or anything that deserved what happened to her. Ingenium was a her-

Tomoyo grit her teeth. 'Was' a hero, indeed. Stain took it all away from her.

Everything she had ever lived for, all twenty-seven years of her life, all snatched away from her unjustly. In a single stroke, Stain had taken everything that mattered away from Tensa… and from Tomoyo.

The pencil in her fingers snapped as she glared into the darkness, her eyes full of rage.

Stain would pay. This she swore.

* * *

"The Invisible Hero: Prism!" Tooru chirped, doing an exaggerated motion to get her excitement across. Midnight let out an excited laugh in approval of the name.

Izuku tapped his board.

He had grown up imagining hero names for himself.

_Adam? No- no, that's too religious. Borderline narcissistic._

_Titan? ...Too vague,_

_Oh God... why can I only think of All Might Jr. right now?_

_"W̫hat̨ are̩ yo̠u doin̙g?"̦_

He gulped, focusing on the white of the paper. _Blanking out to the point of panic, but you know that._

_"No,̱ ͎I ͔m̬e͟an̰ w͍ha̱t ͓a͕re ̘yo̳u doin͉g̰, ̱y͢o̰u ͢a̧l̖r͈eady̯ ̝h͟ạve͙ ͙yo̲ur ̧he͓ro ͙na͜me! We̖ren'̘t ͜yo̘u ̝giv̝e̠n i͖t ̖ag̲es ago̮?"̲_

He flinched, stopping his mental ramble.

_Yeah… I guess I do…_

Midnight stopped Katsumi before she made it to the podium. "Does it have 'murder' in it?"

"No."

"Does it refer to the death of someone in any way?"

She clicked her tongue, spun on her heel and made her way back to her seat, passing Izuku by.

Her eyes landed on his board and widened. _No way…_

"Tell me you aren't serious with that name," she mumbled, leaning forward in her seat to grab his attention.

He leaned back slightly. "Why not? It's the name you gave me."

"...fine," she huffed, her breath tickling his neck. "Any idea on what I should go with?"

"We came up with it. Remember?" he mumbled back. She could hear the small smile on his lips.

"_ But- but that's _so childis-" He cut her off as he got up to present his name. "Izuku, don't run away from me! _"_

Izuku smiled over his shoulder, poking his tongue out.

"Kayama-sensei, can I present mine now?"

Midnight gestured vaguely at the podium.

Izuku promptly tapped his board against it.

Ochako's eyes snapped onto the board, smile widening on her face.

"I used to… _dislike _this name, but as... _things _changed, its meaning changed, too." He smiled, looking at Katsumi and then Ochako. "I'm sure the person that named me has also changed her opinion."

"Deku." His smile turned to a smirk. "The Not-So-Useless Hero."

"Hrmmmm…." Midnight rubbed her chin, one hand on her hip as she bent forward into his personal space, causing him to bluster a bit. "That _can _work. But only if you are okay with using it. Remember, this is something the whole world might call you from here on out. Are you_sure _about going with that?"

His eyes hardened, making sure that Midnight understood his conviction. "Positive."

She smiled. "Not the worst hero name." She hooked an arm around his shoulders. "Did you know Aizawa was gonna go with 'De-Quirker' before Mic stepped in?"

His eyes widened, mouth clamping shut as he tried to hold his laughter in. "D-De-Quirker? Like that snake oil they peddled?"

Aizawa's eyes snapped open, the sound of glass shattering seemingly echoing in the classroom, overpowering everything else. "_ Woman, _" she hissed, voice getting a dangerous coldness to it, " _why would you even bring that up _?"

Midnight hid behind Izuku with a giggle. "'Cause it was hilarious!"

"I'm ready with my name," Shoko muttered walking up to the podium, ignoring the banter. "May I present?"

"Oh- right, you can sit down Midoriya" Midnight mumbled, unhooking her arm from his shoulders.

"It's something my mother used to call me," she started, tapping the board on the podium "Snowflame."

"Simple, elegant! I love it!" Midnight cheered, cupping her own face.

"Thanks," Shoko mumbled, a ghost of a smile on her face as she walked back to her seat.

Midnight looked over the classroom. "That leaves… Bakugou, you got a name yet?"

She cursed under her breath and stepped up. "Yeah."

Izuku had trouble not double-taking as she messed with the tip of her ponytail bashfully, a blush on her face as she tapped her board down.

"Ground Zero," she mumbled to her side, gaze focused on the strand of hair she was twirling between her fingers.

For a moment, time slowed down, everyone in 1-A thinking the same thing unanimously.

_Oh no, she's adorable._

* * *

"Jesus…" Cemetoss hissed as the computer at the teachers' office pinged again. "Let me guess, another offer for one Izuku Midoriya?" she mumbled, pulling the message with the rest. Three days of these constant pings were getting on her nerves.

"Gran… Torino?" She squinted, looking at the form that her computer had pulled up. "That's not a name I recognize-"

All Might froze in her seat. "D-did you say…" She buffed up for a second, blinking into existence next to her. "No. No no she couldn't- no, she _wouldn't _-"

Cementoss was freaking out herself. "A-All Might? What's wrong?"

The hero just laughed an awkward, scared laugh as she stared at the screen. "This can't be happening! No way, nuh-huh, nope, this is just a nightmare."

"All Might, please, you are scaring me."

* * *

Midnight smiled softly as Katsumi ran back to her seat, muttering something to Izuku that made the man smile. She chastised herself for enjoying seeing him smile so much. "Iida, you are the only one left." she announced, looking at the blue-haired woman. "Do you have a name yet?"

Tomoyo got up, gently tapping her board on the podium. "Would this be ok?"

"Going with your given name… is no issue." Midnight mumbled, deflating a bit. "You can sit down."

"Ok, class," Midnight announced as Tomoyo made her way back, shaking off the low the last nickname had pulled her into. "We will be passing out your draft picks now, and don't worry if you weren't picked by any pro's. UA has an agreement with a couple of agencies- hundreds of them, in fact- which will be accepting you. But remember, while the due date for your choices is by tomorrow, you should pick your agency with a lot of forethought, you wouldn't even wanna know how many seniors are still whining about who they picked~"

She started pulling out papers from a shelf on the teachers' podium, passing them out slowly.

Izuku was to last to receive his batch, Midnight carefully dropping a folder two fingers thick on his desk with a whump.

"Have fun going through all of those," she smirked. "And with that, the class is over. See you tomorrow!" She waved at them, walking out of the classroom with a visible sway in her hips.

Aizawa had also rolled away at one point, leaving the students by themselves.

"Sooo…" Mina started, looking through the page she got. "Anyone picked their agencies yet?"

"She _just _told us not to rush it," Eiko dead-panned, slapping empty air.

"I think I'm going to go with Uwabami," Momo mumbled, looking at her list. "She's fairly high-ranked…"

"I wouldn't if I were you," Izuku warned, turning back to look at her. "Her work is usually about charity and sponsorships. While that's all well and good…" he shrugged softly, "you might end up just doing an advertisement or something instead of anything that would help with hero training."

"Oh." Momo looked to the page in front of her. "G-good call."

"Did you pick anything yet, Deku?" Ochako asked, jumping to her feet excitedly.

"Oh, Miruko," he replied, shrugging. "I want to learn more about using my legs in a fight. Currently, I feel like I'm too 'punch heavy'. And she did promise me about showing some tips, so..."

"Luckyyyyy…" Doi mumbled, melting onto her desk. "I want special attention from pros, too."

"Sparkplug, our _teachers _are pro heroes," Jiro muttered half-heartedly.

"It's not the same and you know it!"

Izuku ignored the banter. "Ochako, do you have a choice yet?"

"Oh, I'm thinking Gunhead!" the brunette chirped, punching the air. "Heard she has her own school of martial arts, and since it was so useful in the festival…"

"Good ca-"

The sound of the classroom's door opening stopped all conversation.

Tomoyo paused, looking back for a second. "I need to go somewhere, Aizawa should be aware but I would like it if you could remind her." Her head tilted forward, the glare of her glasses hiding her eyes. "I won't be coming to the dorms tonight; it's a family issue."

And with that she closed the door behind her, leaving before anyone could argue.

"What is _with _her lately?" Hana muttered, leaning back.

Izuku's gut dropped. He had a bad feeling about _all _of this.

"We should head out too," Tsuyu croaked, getting up. "Or dinner is going to be late."

"Right," the rest of the class echoed, starting to pack up.

* * *

Izuku was one of the last out, packing that folder took more time than it should have. Katsumi was huffing and puffing as she, Momo, and Ochako waited on him.

"Did you _seriously _need to put the papers in alphabetical order?" the blonde muttered, punching him weakly on the arm.

"Well I didn't _need _to," he mumbled, rubbing his arm as if her punch had hurt. "Just like you didn't _need _to wait for me."

Momo smiled, snaking her hand around his quietly. "You know we like spending time with you, of course, we were going to wait."

Katsumi made her way to the door of the classroom, "Don't _tell _him that, he'll start taking even more time next ti-" She slid it open.

"I AM HERE IN AN AWKWARD POSITIO-"

"JESUS CHRIST!"

Katsumi's hands detonated, bathing the room in harsh light.

Izuku was the first to recover from what amounted to a giant flashbang. "E-everyone alright?"

"I can't see anything!" Ochako whined, clinging onto his chest, blinking rapidly trying to get her vision back.

"I- I shouldn't have jumped out like that," All Might muttered, clothing slightly singed.

"Goddammit, I hate it when that happens," Katsumi grumbled.

"Uh- in- any case-" All Might coughed in her hand, facing the wall. "Midoriya, can I borrow you for a second?"

"I'm over here, All Might."

* * *

After the other's visions returned, Izuku made his way to a quiet corner with All Might. the tall woman wasn't even looking at him, just staring at her shoes with her back to him.

"You got one more offer," she said simply.

If Izuku didn't know better he would've thought her legs were shaking.

"Her- Her name is G-Gran Torino-"

_Is it me, or is her voice wavering?_

_"No͙, it̫ i̙s̘- ̼won̮der͉ ̮whąt͎ g͢o̗t͈ her̪ ͜so̭ w͖o̬r̹k̖ed up͚?"̜ _Nana mumbled, a part of her kinda-sorta remembering that name.

All Might gulped, her whole body starting to shake. "She was a teacher in UA for one year… as my homeroom teacher."

Izuku was starting to freak out himself. "O-Oh."

"C'mon Toshiko- wake up, no way she actually did that, this is just a prank by Nozomi." Izuku saw her pinch her own arm, her chattering only growing stronger after she didn't wake up. "No- no she was retired, she wouldn't get out of retirement and use her old name to- oh God, was it because I was a poor excuse of a teacher? She must've seen the sports festival and noticed how little you can actually control One for All…"

"W-wait, she knows about it?" Izuku muttered, taking a step back.

"Y-yeah, she was a sworn friend of my mentor…" All Might responded, snapping out of her muttering spree. "I- Uh-"

_"S̰hḛ was̼?"_

She pulled the slip with her phone and contact out of her pocket, passing it to Izuku, still not looking at him.

"G-Good luck." She gulped, her whole body shuddering as if she was suppressing an urge to scream. She finally just sighed, her massive shoulders drooping. "I'll remember you fondly."

Now Izuku was fighting that urge to scream instead.

* * *

Mei whistled as she made her way back to the 1-A dorms, feeling perfectly content to spend another evening with Izuku now that Mecha-Might was back online. Just before she could make it to the door, however, she felt a hand press on her shoulder blade and the gravity drop from beneath her.

"Wait, what?"

The frankly adorably blushing face of Ochako filled her vision, her eyes set with determination. "We need to talk."

"We do?"

Suddenly Momo joined Ochako's side, a similar crimson blush flooding her cheeks. "Yes, _we _do."

"Don't act like you weren't expecting this," Katsumi chided from her side. "Now come on. High Class, can we use your room?"

Momo nodded. "That would be easiest, let's go."

Mei felt Katsumi grab her wrist and guide her into Momo's frankly luxurious room. _How the hell did she even fit that bed in here?_

The pinkette was guided to Momo's bed before Ochako returned gravity to her and the inventor was dropped rather suddenly onto the soft bedding below.

"Okay girls, so what's going on? I was gonna go wait for Zuku in his room."

Ochako grabbed a strand of her hair, fussing with it as her eyes darted around. "That's exactly what we wanted to talk about."

Mei cocked her head, confusion apparent on her features.

Katsumi stamped her foot, trying her best to look angry despite how clearly flustered she was. "You and Deku?"

"...yeah?"

Momo, who had been pacing in the background, fanning herself and stifling her urge to just ask the straight up question finally snapped. She turned to Mei with an accusatory finger. "You said you… you…" her energy substantially dropped as she began mumbling.

"Oh my god, Momo." Ochako sighed, patting the taller woman on the shoulder sympathetically.

"Goggles, you said you fucked Deku while we were away," Katsumi grumbled, face growing a pink shade Mei hadn't seen before. "We wanna talk about _that _."

Mei perked up, the memories flooding her mind as she smiled contentedly. "Yeah…" she sighed dreamily. "I sure did."

"Well… tell us about it!" Katsumi fumed. "Don't be a prude!"

"What, don't you all just wanna find out for yourselves?" Mei asked with a playful smirk.

Momo leaned against the wall, sliding down and covering her face with her hands. "Oh my god… she knows what sex is and now she knows how to tease."

Ochako took a seat next to Mei on the bed. "Look, I'm sure we all have our own feelings about when or-" she gulped, fighting the urge to lick her lips, "_ how _we want Deku to… er… _be _with each of us for the first time. But we want to know what your experience was like."

Mei flopped back on Momo's bed, arms splayed out the side. "It was _magical _."

"Magical?" Momo asked, peeking from between her fingers.

"Uh, yeah. I mean. You've seen what he looks like. I can confirm that he's _more _than just proportional." she winked at the girls, "Plus, it's Izuku. Can you imagine a more _generous _person?"

Ochako shifted on her legs, rubbing her thighs softly. "How… er… how proportional."

Mei looked at her forearm, doing her best to measure based on that before doing an approximate measurement with her hands in the air.

Momo gasped.

"Holy _shit _." Katsumi hissed. "How did that even… fit?"

Mei shrugged. "I was eager and he was patient."

Ochako groaned. Rubbing her face, as if trying to rub the blush away. "Okay. I mean. We were all in his room after the USJ, we all saw… _it _poking up. We should have seen that coming."

"I… I suppose so. But..." Momo paused, looking at Mei's rather small form and the surprising distance between the pink haired woman's hands. _If she could make it fit… I could probably do it too… _Momo's blush returned full force as she realized what she was considering.

Mei shrugged. "But? Look, it's Izuku. It didn't hurt and he was _amazing _. And the things he can do with his mouth?" she shivered from bottom to the top, a motion that was mimicked by the other three women as they digested _that _bit of information. "Plus, with his quirk, we didn't need to worry about a condo-"

Momo stood up quickly. "You had unprotected sex!?"

"Uh… yeah? His quirk gives him complete control over all his body functions. If you're worried about getting pregnant, don't be. He assured me he was able to shut that off."

The other three women took a moment to consider the implications of being able to have that same experience with Izuku.

Suddenly a loud 'manly!' echoed from outside followed by the sounds of frantic whispering and desperate footsteps.

Katsumi flew to the door, tearing it open and glancing outside with a furious blush. "Kirishima I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE! YOU CAN'T HIDE!_ "_

Just around the corner in the hall, the panting, crimson forms of Kyoka, Mina, and Tooru were hiding just out of view, all holding onto the mouth of Eiko, trying to keep her silent.

"Ok… stand still and she can't see us," Mina whispered

"THAT'S FUCKING T-REXES YOU, MORON!" Katsumi screeched, starting to chase them, Momo and Ochako hot on her heels.

Kyoka tossed Eiko on the floor. " SCATTER!"

* * *

"What have we learned today?" Momo huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest and staring down the nervous crew of four that had decided eavesdropping on them was a great idea.

"Respect personal boundaries," Mina repeated, pushing her index fingers together, gazing down.

"Good. Glad to have seen that you learned that," she huffed again, looking like a mother that was more disappointed than angry. "You can relax; Bakugou won't hurt you."

"You're lucky Deku doesn't find maiming attractive," the blonde hissed, giving them a death glare with the corner of her eye.

"Quite," Momo affirmed.

"What the hell did they even eavesdrop on?" Doi mumbled, switching through channels, Minerva sitting next to her.

"Nuthin'," Ochako mumbled, melting onto the couch slightly, tired after the dash to catch all of the sprinters. "Wait- click back- was that about Ingenium?"

"Who?"

"Iida's sister, you dendrite." Katsumi hissed, grabbing the remote and clicking back to the newscast.

* * *

Izuku glanced at the paper once more as he made his way to his dorm, mind trying to come up with an image of someone that caused All Might, the pillar of goddamn peace to shake in her boots.

_"If I͈ were you̟, ̮I'̭d s̡ţop d͍oing t̡ha̳t̟; ͅyo̢u͢ ̞ạre̫ g͚o͈n̹na ̨sc̺are ̠y͇oųr̲sel̰f ̢way̞ mo͇re̲ t̬ha̰n̮ ͍tḫe a̞c͜t͓ual͖ p̮e̘r̯so̰n̩ w̦i͍ll,̤" _Nana chided, her hand leaving a ghostly sensation on his shoulder.

_Right. Do you remember her?_

_"N̫o..ͅ.̪ ̥I'l̨l̗ p̤r͉o̺b͓ably ̯r̝ememḅe̟r when I̥ ̻s͖e̯e̳ ͖h͉e̗r-̼ m͟ayb͢e̺?̥" _He could feel her face scrunch up. _"I͚ṯ's̻ ͖annoy͉i̱n̻g ͙t͜hat I̞ d̦on'̡t̪ ̝e̗ven͚ ṛe̯mem̫be̺r͜ ṃy͎ past t̫haͅt m̠uc͍h. ̯J͚ust r̥an̟d͈o͙m ̰bi̩ts̜ ͇and ̪b̨o͉bs."_

_Well, you are literally a mess of neurons that found sentience. I think this much is amazing._

_"Y͟e͙ah̠, I gu̹ess͕." _He felt the cold sweat start to pile on his brow as he sensed her smirk forming. _"T͢ha͔n̰ks f͚or ̙ca̹l̳l͉i̼n͉g ̫m̘e̹ ̤a̯maz͕in̯g i̧nͅ a͈n off̧ha͓nded ̘way,͍ y͎a t͍su̖n͉de̯re̡~̘"_

_I- you-_

He huffed, ignoring the second personality in his head for the time being even as he could feel her mock whine and giggle in the depths of his mind. He opened the door to his home, the Heights Alliance dorms.

Only to feel, disturbed by the silence as he stepped through the doorway, leaving his shoes behind.

_Everyone should've been here by now… why is it so…_

_"S̢i̫len̠t̟?̫"̭ _Nana suggested.

_No, lifeless._

He finally made his way to the only source of sound in the complex, the common room with the newscast on.

"-Stain, or more commonly known as 'Hero Killer' has been connected to the attack. Another pro hero hurt beyond recovery by the crazed serial attacker."

Everyone was in a state of despair beyond what he ever remembered seeing them in, Momo's hand was over her mouth, her eyes close to tearing, while Katsumi just glared at the floor. Ochako was sobbing against Mei who had an unreadable expression he could only compare to the time right before she confessed to him.

"G-guys… what's going on?"

Katsumi's head snapped to his immediately.

"Stain's latest victim was Ingenium."


	49. A man that studieth revenge

Time seemed to stand still as he silently took his seat next to Katsumi and Momo, staring at the newscast as if it was going to answer all the questions swimming through his mind. He began tapping his foot on the side of the couch to try and calm his speeding thoughts.

"She didn't tell any of us…" Ochako mumbled, Mei holding her hand to give her some support.

Honestly, Izuku would've been proud of her if he wasn't busy trying to figure out what to do.

"...Exactly. We can't talk about it if she doesn't even fucking tell us," Katsumi muttered, huffing just under her breath.

Izuku nodded slowly. "It was her choice, we can't act on what we got from the news…" He ran his hand through his hair. "But I don't like it."

"None of us do," Mei huffed, her usual smile missing.

"Maybe— maybe we should just talk?" Momo offered "...I for one wouldn't want to be alone with this."

"Yeah!" Hana piped up. "We can't just stand by and do _nothing _!" Izuku could see that she was beating herself over about the comment she'd made when Tomoyo had left their classroom suddenly.

Izuku felt Shoko's warm hand on his back. "...Maybe they're right? ...I didn't mind you barging into my situation."

Izuku didn't look back to confirm, but he could tell she had a ghost of a smile on her face. The warmth radiating from her hand was comforting, making him even more sure that his interference was a good decision.

"I… but Shoko, you opened up to _me _first," he muttered, low enough for just her, Katsumi, and Momo to hear. "It's… not the same. I can't just barge into…" he trailed off, focusing on the screen.

A hero being forced to retire was, with all things said, a common thing.

Izuku never imagined it happening to someone close to him, not so soon, nor to someone like Tomoyo.

_God... I can't even imagine what's going through her mind…_

_"I—̤"̪ _Nana started before growing quiet. _"...it's like̝ ̰l̰o͢s̖i̺n̻g̞ s̮o̻meo͈ne, r̪i̬gh̟t?͈"_

_"W̘hy does̘ ̼tha̲t f͢e͍el s͓o fami̮li̥a͈r?̥" _

_You alright? _

_"Y̩-͉yea͚h,̞ I͕ ̩th̼i̥n̬k̘ s̹o̙.͟" _

"Izuku?" Katsumi's hand was on his shoulder, shaking him lightly. "You zoned out there."

"Right, sorry, was thinking," he muttered back, slowly realizing everyone was looking at him.

"Is there a problem?" he asked shyly.

"...You're the class rep." Mina shrugged. "Plus' you _always _have a plan. We just kinda assumed you'd have a plan to… 'fix' this."

He blinked. Who knew being the student representative would have given him _this _much of a leadership role?

_"Uh̟… ͇an̰yone?"̮_

_...Fair._

* * *

A shaky breath passed her lips as Tomoyo pulled open one of the large doors at the entrance of her sister's hero agency…

_Former agency…_

She greeted by an empty, unsettling atmosphere, the usual hustle and bustle missing as the empty halls were causing her subconscious to scream that there was something wrong.

Her jaw clenched and she trudged on.

Previous visits to this building had always filled the blue-haired woman with pride; pride in the work her sister did on a daily basis to make the city, no, the whole world, a safer place. The sidekicks, the secretaries, even the maintenance staff… everyone looked up to the shining pillar of justice that was Ingenium.

But now that pillar had crumbled, never to rise again.

And it was all _her _fault.

_The Hero Killer: Stain._

Merely thinking the name caused bile to rise in Tomoyo's throat as a cold rage seeped through her veins and seemed to taint the very air of the agency as she made her way to her sister's office.

_Former office…_

As the woman moved deeper into the agency, the more the memories dug into her. Images of her and Tensa playing while their parents were in meetings. Getting to know the various sidekicks and interns that came and went over the years. Memories that should have been filled with laughter and smiles, now only brought anger and emptiness.

And the sickening reminder that they could never have that again.

The name continued to echo in her mind.

Tomoyo tore open drawer after drawer, file after file, searching for something—anything—to aid in her quest for revenge.

To help her _kill _Stain.

The thought hit her like a train. _Kill? I-I can't- That's not what a _hero _would do…_

_Is it?_

Her hands moved on their own as she battled with the emotions that were waging war in her mind, pulling open the compartment Tensa had hidden sweets in when they were just kids.

Her mind clicked back as she noticed what she was holding. She could barely feel the tears beginning to stream down her face as she faced the file her sister had left behind. Bold red letters stamped onto the folder.

"Hero Killer: Stain," she breathed out, voice cracking slightly as she read the name aloud.

The name echoed and she heard her own voice; causing her to pause for a second. The full weight of what she was going to attempt washing over her in cold waves. _Am- Am I actually going through with this? _

Part of her started screaming how wrong it all was, how she was going against everything she stood for.

Everything her sister stood for.

_Had _. _Had _stood for.

The thought alone silenced all the screams in her head.

_Stain has killed _dozens _of heroes, none of whom deserved it. _She _is the one who deserves to die. For all those heroes._

_For Tensa…_

* * *

"I got… absolutely nothing," Izuku repeated, his head in his hands as he stared at the floor. His stomach dropped at the realization that he didn't even know how to help a person he considered a friend.

Then, out of nowhere, Minerva spoke up. "Why don't you just… hug her?" she suggested, some of the class murmuring in shocked approval after a short pause. His head snapped to her, part with shock and part with anger. Who did she think she was, teasing in a time when a friend desperately needed help?

Her bashful and shy demeanor melted that thought instantly, her face flush as her hands held onto one of her hair-balls, squeezing it like it was a stress-ball. "I-It might be too much from all of us but…" she trailed off, losing her nerve.

But then she jumped off the couch, standing up straight, teeth gritted. "GodDAMMIT!"

Izuku wasn't sure what shocked him more, her sudden screech or the fact that she looked so… _torn _about the situation.

Honestly, it gave him a little hope to see her feel the same way he had; torn and mad about his own uselessness in the situation.

"Just—" The diminutive woman made an inhuman growl stomping on the ground, acting out what everyone in the room was wanting to do, her small shoulders quaking after the violent outburst. "S-she may be a prude but she…"

"Doesn't deserve this," Katsumi mumbled, gesturing to the TV, completing the sentence.

The class nodded in unison.

"You are right, Mineta," Tsuyu croaked, her wide eyes landing on Izuku. "You could just… hug her, Midoriya..."

"...Physical contact could help," Momo added, looking up from her lap.

"If you say so," he huffed after a short pause, considering the option.

* * *

Tomoyo looked over the contents of the folder, scanning the complicated pattern her sister had noticed in Stain's activity. It was hard _not _to see the pattern in the attacks after seeing it written out. Even her sister had fallen into the next step on the map.

There wasn't a concrete radius, the attacks had looked too random for that. That's what everyone had thought anyway.

But her sister had figured out that wasn't the case. There wasn't an attack radius. But all of the heroes that had gotten attacked had one thing in common.

They had all passed a 2-by-2 square in the Musutafu district. And two days after the fact, they were attacked on patrol. Away from the initial contact point, too far for any detectives to notice the small area Stain apparently saw as her hunting ground.

_But… then where's the next attack site? _she muttered in her head, trying to figure out where the pattern would lead. Or, better yet...

She pulled out the internship offers she'd received, along with the list of heroes that would accept students.

_Who will be the next victim…_

* * *

"...It feels weird letting you look through my list," Momo mumbled, watching in awe as Izuku just tore into all of her internship offers even with Ochako sleeping against him, muttering up a storm under his breath to avoid waking up the girl on him.

"He seems really into it, too," Mina added with a sly smirk that quickly faded away. "Guess it's taking his mind off of... you know."

Momo did know.

"Wait..." Izuku paused looking at the page in his hands incredulously. "Y-you got an offer from Madam Nighteye?"

"Who even is that?" Eiko asked, looking at the sheet of paper quizzically.

"One of the only side-kicks All Might ever had," Izuku explained, pushing the sheet closer for Momo to view. She blinked at the page.

"You wouldn't think that considering her standing on the rankings, but she is quite the pro to work under." He added, rubbing his finger under his nose. "And your quirk matches her way of combat."

"Huh?" Momo picked up the page, examining it. "Quirk: Foresi—"

Her voice caught before she looked back at Izuku. "S-seriously?"

"Yeah. Even in the best of circumstances, you need time to create, but with her ability to be ten steps ahead of her opponent due to her quirk…" He smirked, letting the raven-haired woman fill in the rest.

"Oh wow, way to open the gap, Momo," Mina teased, smiling at her friend.

Momo still looked lost on what to do, even with the given information.

"How do you keep seeing things I just don't?" she mumbled finally, looking at the man sitting next to the coffee table with the brunette leaning against his torso.

"I— Uh… got my practice in watching hero fights?" He shrugged softly. "Guess all those quirk analysis books I wrote got me prepared for this?"

"I— I see," Momo mumbled, nodding slowly. "Can you show me how you do that sometime?"

Izuku's eyes sparkled. "I would love to!"

Mina fake-gagged. "Ew! Love!"

Kyoka poked her on the back with a jack. "You're just jealous."

The pinkette huffed, failing to hide her grin. "Don't call me out like that!"

* * *

"You... _you _are the rot I need to cut out of society," Chizumi hissed, towering over the silver-haired villainess, a knife stabbed through her shoulder keeping her in place.

She knew she shouldn't have listened to that broker, but considering the number of supplies she had always provided for her quest, she felt like she owed at least that little to her.

But after going through the portal, she was greeted by this sorry mess: a 21-year-old_ kid _playing villain.

It made her stomach churn. This was what society was producing; disillusioned, rotten to the core villains.

"Kurogiri," the rot gasped, panting slightly. "Just teleport her away; I don't want a party member like this in my team." Her red eyes glowed between the fingers of the hand on her face in barely hidden rage.

"I— I can't move" the black flame gasped, trying to keep herself up by grabbing onto the bar in front of her. Stain was just surprised that she hadn't fallen down yet. "Is this your quirk?"

"Shut up," she hissed grabbing another knife from one of the sheaths she had attached to the sides of her ribcage. "I'm ending this little 'League of Villains' right here."

"I'd prefer…"

Stain flinched, years of flight-or-fight kicking in, her whole body screaming for her to move, for her to get away.

"If you didn't."

Her eyes landed on the source of that sickly-sweet voice. No one should've been able to talk like that. It was too… practiced. The Aura it had was too inhuman.

Or maybe _too _human, words flowing out in a manner that was practiced to the point of it grating against her senses.

That moment of hesitation was all Tsukiko needed, her hand moving to grab onto the knife in her shoulder.

Chizumi hissed, jumping back as she watched the blade corrode away. _Out of time. _

The rot got up, swaying as she stared her down. "I thought you could help me kill that giant fake. Guess not."

"Who?" Stain asked simply, her hand already going for another knife, ready to attack at a moments notice.

"All Might," the rot spat out.

"You want to kill All Might?" Stain's grip tightened on the knives she was holding, eyes narrowing at the trash in front of her. "You will have to go through me first."

She lunged, flinging a knife towards the girl-playing-villain, ready to finish this once and for all. As she moved, she watched a gate open in front of her, and in an instant she found herself back in her hunting grounds, her knife clattering against the wall that now replaced the rot.

She turned to see that the portal closed behind her.

She let out a breath, picking up her knife off the ground and resheathing it.

_It doesn't matter. _

_She doesn't have the skills nor the drive to actually manage killing All Might. _

* * *

"Kurogiri?" Tsukiko hissed, looking at her partner in crime. "Why did you teleport her back? I was gonna kill her!"

"Stay your hand," her master commanded, causing all fight to leave her body and her red eyes to focus on the TV with 'audio only' flashing on the screen. "Her presence should help our image. Perhaps get us a few followers if we manage to get her ideology connected to ours."

Tsukiko nodded slowly. "...So we could use her to get some higher level summons." Her mouth split into a cruel smirk. "No more cannon fodder. And we get to use her from the shadows, against her will."

She let out a shrill, manic cackle.

* * *

"Get yourself together," Aizawa hissed, looking at the woman moping around in the common room of the teachers' dorms.

"Shut up, Shiko," Kayama growled in return, leaning back further into the seat she had taken over with a bucket of vanilla ice-cream which she was slowly shoveling through.

The news had hit her hardest.

"I know she was your classmate, but—"

"But what? 'Getting crippled like that comes with the job'?" Kayama shot back, almost tossing her spoon at the woman trying to get her to move on.

Mic tugged at Aizawa's sleeve. "C' mon, leave her be for now. She needs time."

She just sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. "This isn't rational at all..."

"Humans aren't. You know that" Mic muttered, pulling her along. "You just don't like seeing people sad."

"Fuck you."

* * *

"Midoriya," Aizawa called when she walked into the common room of the 1-A dorms.

Said man, who had been sleeping on the couch, jerked awake almost instantly.

"Why are you down here at two AM?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head gently trying to find the right words to not sound idiotic. "I— I was waiting for Iida, was worried after the news…"

Aizawa huffed, her mouth twitching into a scowl as she took a seat on the next couch over. She hated how the media was parading around Tensa's defeat like the next new TV drama show. Fucking vultures, acting like Ingenium was nothing more than a character Tensa had played.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to get some of the sleep out of them. "Iida— We are aware of how tough it must be for her. Especially with—" she growled a bit, gesturing at the television, "those... vultures." She sighed heavily. "But don't worry, we'll do our best to take care of her. Just... go get some proper sleep, you are gonna need it. Plus, she won't be coming back tonight, anyway."

"R-right," he mumbled, getting up and heading to his room.

"And Midoriya..."

He felt her hand tap him on the shoulder. "You're a good kid."

* * *

The usual chatter and banter of the class were missing the next morning, everyone keenly aware of the emptiness of Tomoyo's seat as the start of the class got closer and closer.

Kyoka was playing with her pencil, spinning it on her jacks, focusing on the clock which seemed to slow down with the weight of the stares of the class on it. "Three minutes left," she mumbled aloud.

Izuku nodded.

"She is usually ten minutes early," Momo muttered back.

Izuku nodded again.

"Maybe she needs time alone? I'm sure the University would give—" Ochako's mouth snapped shut as the door slid open, Tomoyo entering the class at long last.

She nodded in greeting and silently made her way onto the back of the classroom, taking her seat.

The bell rang just as she sat down, signaling the start of the class.

* * *

Class ended without issues, and Aizawa reminded everyone that hadn't turned in their slips already to do so. Most of the class was getting up to do just that.

She shot a questioning look to Tomoyo who had registered into an agency in Hosu which was definitely not the best she could have chosen. But she didn't find it in herself to question the woman.

Izuku, on the other hand...

"Midoriya, care to stay after class for a second?"

The man nodded, standing next to the teachers' podium as the rest of the class filed out, Doi joking about how he was in trouble.

"Sensei, is this about who I picked?" He asked finally as the door slid closed after the last person left.

"Gran Torino?" she muttered looking at the slip he had given. "She's an Old teacher of UA. Should be a good choice— no, it's not about that."

She blinked once, then looked back towards a stack of papers on the desk. "...this was Miruko's first internship offer."

"...And her first rejection," Izuku completed, deflating a bit. "Dammit. Now I feel bad."

"You are an eighteen-year-old student, It's not your fault. But—" Aizawa huffed, rubbing her eyes. "Nozomi requested that we give her some sort of—" she used her hands to actually put quotation marks in the air, "—'positive reinforcement' to tempt her to apply for more in the future."

Izuku sighed. "That sounds like Nozomi alright."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Alright… what would she have me do?"

* * *

"Midoriya?" Tomoyo blinked, watching the man scout the area, clearly looking for someone.

Then his eyes landed on her, and started jogging in her direction.

A part of her felt ashamed that she was out in the courtyard, tucked away in one of the many pathways UA had to connect its many facilities. Another part just wanted him to stay away.

Some part of her just wanted the company.

"Iida! I'm glad I found you," he called, slowing down as he got closer to her. "The whole class was looking for you— Why are you eating all alone?"

"...Cafeteria was too loud" she mumbled, looking down on her boxed lunch. She had barely touched it. "Sorry if I caused trouble."

Izuku sat on the other side of the bank, shaking his head. "Nah, we were just… worried." he finished looking up at the sky.

"I see."

Both grew quiet, Izuku not knowing how to start the conversation, and Tomoyo not wanting to.

"...About your sister." He started, just under his breath.

Tomoyo stiffened. "No need to worry about that. I'm fine."

Izuku's head snapped to look at her. "I— I won't push it. But please don't lie to me."

"I'm fine," Tomoyo repeated, her words hollow. "She's alive and that's all that matters."

Izuku opened his mouth to say something but thought against it, closing his mouth and looking down. "I'm here if you need someone to listen to you. And, hey—"

He reached a hand out to pat her on the shoulder.

"We are friends, there is no shame in talking with a friend right?"

Tomoyo smiled softly, one that actually reached her eyes ever so slightly.

"You are right."

She didn't elaborate.


	50. Only weak-minded refuse to be influenced

"You are getting way better at this," Kyoka mused as Izuku continued his practice with her guitar, playing a simple tune that was heavenly to her ears. "It's kinda pissing me off how easily you picked it up."

"I had a really good teacher." Izuku shrugged, the action not affecting the tune he had been playing. "...And my quirk I guess?"

Kyoka sighed with a smirk. "Stupid." She yawned, laying on top of her bed, listening to him play with her eyes closed. "Hope you didn't mind that I faked not knowing about your relationship the other day."

"Oh wow, you blurting out that you knew would've made it _much _worse," Izuku admitted, realizing what could've happened if the class knew that. _Heck just the girls hearing that, Ochako would've become a balloon again._

_"He̥y͢,̳ ͉y͟o͢u̬ ̜s̝a̫id i̪t ̪not m̞e͇.̳" _

"...Hey, Green?" Kyoka mumbled, softer than before. His eyes found themselves attracted to her form again. She was hugging a pillow tightly, her jacks poking each other in front of her face. "...Did you mean it?"

"...What?" he asked softly, the tune morphing into something softer.

Kyoka rolled from side to side, fighting the urge to just blurt out what she had in her head. She sighed, giving in finally. "T-that I was hot?"

Izuku's hand slipped as he missed a chord, the harsh dissonance causing Kyoka to flinch.

"I- I'm sorry that was a stupid thing to as-!" Kyoka attempted to backpedal out of the question, only to get cut off by Izuku's soft chuckle.

"You are adorable."

Kyoka flinched again, groaning and tossing the pillow at his head as she hid her blushing face under her hands. "Asshole!"

"What? You are!" he insisted, voice muffled by the pillow on his face. "And…"— he looked away, the pillow dropping off his face—"...really attractive."

Kyoka paused.

"I mea-" He was forced to stop as her jacks suddenly burst forward, wrapping around his face, snapping his jaw shut.

"Don't!" Kyoka panted, her face looking like a steamed tomato.

Izuku's eyes remained gazing at hers, green against dark purple.

She blinked, the jacks forcing his mouth closed going slack. "S-sorry, I got... embarrassed."

"I- uh…" He looked away, scratching his cheek. "I feel the same way… I didn't think you'd bring that back up…"

"Sorry, I just… that came to my head when you…" Kyoka blustered, then covered up her eyes with a hiss. "God, I'm a mess…"

Izuku laughed awkwardly. "Join the club."

"...Izuku- did you actually mean it though?" she asked, avoiding his gaze.

"I meant every word of it," he breathed out. "I- has no one ever told you that before?"

"No- no they did, I just…" She sat down cross-legged, hands on her lap as her jacks pulled back and started to poke each other again. "...Didn't believe them before."

"...Oh."

* * *

Ochako attempted to sneak into his room.

Izuku acted like he didn't notice her walking in on her tip-toes.

"Ochako?" He whispered, turning around in his chair to look at his cute intruder.

"A-ah! Deku!" She blushed, looking at her lover. "Hello!"

"Hello," he replied with a smile. "Everything alright?"

"I just…" She looked down, then took the few steps to hug him into her chest, whimpering a bit. "...Wanted to be close to you."

He flinched for a second only to hug back pulling her closer. "Ochako… is it about-?"

"Yeah… I-" She sniffled. "The whole thing with Ingenium just brought back a bunch of memories… about how you were almost… y'know?"

"Oh… right. The USJ," He muttered, rubbing calming circles on her back. "...right."

"I just- didn't want to be alone with those thoughts… Mei and Momo were putting some 'final touches' on your costume and Katsumi is…" She trailed off.

Izuku huffed, pulling her onto his lap with a slight smirk. "Being Kacchan?"

"Yeah, that." She smiled back, hooking her chin on the crook of his neck. "Trainin' harder than ever at the gym. It's… somethin' alright."

"And you're here?" he hummed, letting his hands roam a bit over her back and shoulders.

"'Cause I wanted to spend some time with you dummy~" Her hand cupped the back of his head, her body pressing against his so flush that he forgot they were two separate people for a moment. "...I'm just happy I have the chance…"

"...Hey Ochako?" Izuku muttered, his voice a little heavy. "Remember your promise the day before? Your 'payback'?"

"Hmmn?" Ochako pulled back for a moment, her legs were on the sides of his legs, her hands on his shoulders. She blinked slowly tilting her head to the side with a coy smile on her face. "Oh? Is my little Deku turned on?"

He blinked for a moment before both of them burst out into laughter. "Your _little _Deku?"

"Pffft- your face! You got all red in the face!" she gasped, slapping his chest between fits of giggles. After a few seconds their laughter faded off and Ochako found her eyes gravitating to his lips and eyes, bouncing between the two. "...It's temptin', though."

"I hope so." Izuku smiled, laying his hands on her thighs. "I love you, Ochako."

She closed the gap again, her familiar taste greeting him again. One of her soft hands snuck up from his shoulders, trailing his neck to the back of his head, pulling him deeper into the kiss while the other trailed down above his t-shirt then under it, her nails scratching his abs.

He was getting lost in her again and he loved every second of it. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensations she was supplying him with earnestly, savoring her taste, her touch, the heat coming off her body. It made his mind spin in the most enjoyable way.

Then his back hit the ceiling.

He pulled back in a panic, Ochako exploiting the gap to kiss along his jaw and neck, smothering him with her love as both floated in his room.

"O-Ochako are we floating?" he managed to breathe out, only for her to respond with a breathless giggle.

"Mmhmmm~" she purred against his neck, then kissed his ear, nibbling on the soft flesh softly, causing a shiver to run up his spine. "Hey… can we- do you wanna go further than this?"

* * *

**_What happened to the rest of the scene? deleted cause I really don't wanna piss off the mods here, so read it on Ao3 if you are curious_**

* * *

"...God dammit, Round-Face beat me to it," Katsumi huffed, noticing the sleeping figures after sneaking into Izuku's room that night, naked and cuddling each other with cute smiles on their faces. She was honestly surprised feelings of jealousy weren't bubbling up to the surface.

_Maybe I really do love them both? _she mused. _Yeah, right, 'love'. I'm probably just happy seeing Izuku so happy. _She gently pulled the covers on both of them and snuck back out.

Tomorrow was the start of the internships. They both could use the proper rest.

* * *

_I._

_Am._

_Gonna. _

_MURDER—_

_"O̖h̪, ̮hu͚sh.̫"_

Katsumi was trying hard not to laugh next to him. Doi was making another jab at how 'the two of them matched now'. Minerva looked like she was having a new crisis. And Mina was sneaking pictures of him.

_Great._

Izuku sighed harder, seeing a reflection of himself in the glare of a billboard: long blonde hair down to his waist, a female UA uniform with enough volume at the skirt to fake an hourglass figure, even fake breasts to complete the disguise, his briefcase holding his new and improved hero costume in his hands. He fought the urge to rub the makeup covering his freckles off his face.

At least he looked like just another one of 1-A next to Momo and Sato.

_Not _the first man with a quirk.

_"Yo̢ų ar̘e a̞ n̜a͎t̗u͖r͓a̺l̘!͎" _Nana teased as he huffed internally again.

_Look, I hate this. That 'tuck' thing you had me do is getting on my nerves and the only reason I don't look like a tense mess is causeI gave you control of my body. SO STOP TEASING ME ABOUT IT!_

_"F̧i̙ne,̣ fi̫ne̝~͜" _she cooed, continuing to pilot his body, making his hips sway as the class walked into the train station.

He groaned in his head again. Louder this time.

_Honestly, the only way this whole thing could get worse is if— _

"Hey! Aren't those the 1-A students from UA?"

_Oh hey, guess I don't even need to say that out loud to get fucked over. _

He could feel Nana suppress her urge to laugh. He didn't know if that made it worse or not yet.

Didn't change the fact that he was groaning inside his head again as 1-A was stopped by an actual horde of fangirls.

"Oh! You are Todoroki Shoko!"

_Oh no._

"You actually touched him! How did his muscles feel?"

Shoko just stared without response and Aizawa's eye twitched. "Do any of you have a reason to hinder our class?"

"YEAH! Where is Izuku Midoriya!?" one of the bolder fans demanded, stomping over to the tired teacher.

"He is taking another route," Aizawa huffed, glaring at the woman.

The woman squinted clearly not believing the monotone teacher. "I thought heroes are supposed to uphold justice, not lie to the public."

Izuku flinched at the sound of Aizawa's teeth grinding, accidentally kicking Nana out of her control over his body.

"Just. Leave. I won't tolerate you harassing my students," Aizawa grunted, her expression between anger and outright inhuman rage.

"So that man with _fake _powers is somewhere here…" another of the group chimed after getting Mina's and Ochako's Autograph. "Shame he is faking it, but he is still so hot!~"

Minerva shuddered. _Was I like that? _

"What the fuck do you mean 'fake'?" Katsumi huffed, her hands sparking slightly at the agitation. "Didn't you watch the festival?"

The crowd blinked, some muttering to their friends while others crossed their arms.

"Ok, how much is UA paying you all to pull this? There is no way that—"

"That a man has a quirk?" Kyouka completed with a raised brow. "That's the same thing we said the day we met him. Then he pretty much bench-pressed the class, followed by generating _goddamn _lightning."

"Guy's, it's fine," Izuku mumbled his voice a higher pitch than his normal tone only thanks to Total Command's influence on his body. "We don't need to prove that I— Izuku Midoriya has a quirk."

"What's with the weird pronunciation?"

"She's a new transfer student!" Ochako supplied without even blinking. "Izumi—"

_Ah, fuck. _

_"I̢ go̮t̪ th̹is̠." _

"Ah! Ochako-san you forgot again? It's Shimura!" Izuku's face contorted in a way he could only describe as a 'cute pout'.

"S-sorry Izumi-san!" She blushed, rubbing the back of her head.

"Izumi?" the crowd questioned, the attention locked onto the new student that they haven't seen on the sports festival. Unless-

"OK, THAT'S IT!" Aizawa screeched. "THEY ARE GONNA BE LATE FOR THEIR TRAINS! _MOVE _!"

And with that. 1-A shuffled through, Rikku and Eiko taking point and shoving through the crowds with ease.

* * *

"Ah. This is the address." Izuku pocketed his phone, knocking on the large wooden doors of the decrepit two-story building.

_"Kn̘oc͉k̳ ̝ha̡rde̼r ̤a̦n̳d̤ th͚e̘ p̠ai͍nt's ̳go̪nna f͉all͜ o̳f͚f̙.̱ ͅAr̳e y̭ou̲ sure țhi̳s͈ ̩i̩s̙ ̞t̺h͈e͈ buil̦di̢n̡g?"_

_Yeah, I'm sure. The inside is probably all high-tech and stuff. _

He knocked again, the door pushing open slightly. He pushed it the rest of the way open, hoping he could just get in and get rid of the disguise he was _still _wearing.

Only to come face to face with a gruesome sight.

An old woman lying on her stomach; intestines, and blood seeping out of her small form.

Izuku blinked and stepped in. "...do you need help getting off the ground?"

"I'M ALI—" Gran Torino's gaze snapped onto him. "Ok, runt, how?"

"That doesn't smell like real blood, nice prop though." Izuku shrugged, closing the door behind him. "How did you know how I was who you asked for and not some random UA girl?" he asked while tearing off the wig off his head along with the fake boobs out of his shirt.

"Nozomi called ahead." Gran shrugged back, sitting up. "You really are going at that disguise, huh?"

Izuku stopped, staring at the older teacher. "Sorry, just... felt weird, too weird going around like this," he huffed. "May I go change?"

"Make yourself at home, runt. We're stuck in this house for a while."

"Thanks!" He smiled, walking towards the staircase. "Is this where the bedrooms are?"

"Dunno. Just got stationed here myself, but I'm sure you can find the dorms." The older hero grunted, getting up from the ground. "I got some fake blood I need to wash off my suit."

Izuku chuckled. "Good luck with that, old-timer!"

"Sassy little runt," Gran smirked back as Izuku disappeared up the staircase. Some part of him was getting nostalgic over the banter.

_WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THAT?! _Izuku screeched in his head as he scurried up the stairs, trying not to hyperventilate.

_"B̮ecau͕se ̙I ̰re̗memb̡e͖re͢d ͅhęr̥.͙" _Nana's calm, almost melancholic voice snapped him right out of his internal panic. _"S̨he̝ ̱l̯i̹k͔es—̡orͅ weļl,̫ lik̜ẹd͓— ̱b͉an̪t͍e̯r̻ like̳ ̻th̫at.̬ Pr̬et̮t̟ỵ ̨mu̳ch͔ ̖like͍ Ai̗zaw̳a̜ ̳doe̞s̻.̞" _

_O- Oh… _He nodded taking his shirt off as he came to the second floor, opening one of the random doors trying to find the bedrooms.

First door he opened led to a storage room.

The second led to an undressing Miruko.

His brain clicked one second after the fact as he looked at the tanned hero pulling her hero suit— a leotard—up her body.

Her rabbit ears twitched and she turned around, costume only half on her torso "Torino? I told you to kno—"

Her crimson eyes landed on him.

His eyes snapped up to hers, willpower keeping his gaze locked onto her face and not her... 'free assets'.

"...Why are you here?" She asked slowly, even as she was blushing madly, her arm covering her modesty. "I thought you were going with another hero— And are you wearing a skirt?"

"I— you— Why am I here? Why are you here!?" Izuku blustered, taking a few steps back, eyes still locked onto hers. "Your Agency is three cities over!"

Miruko was kinda finding his sustained gaze arousing.

"Nozomi."

Izuku paused in his blustering as his eyes grew distant and angry, figuring out what was going on. "THAT RAT BASTARD!" he took a breath and finally turned around. Giving her some privacy. "What did she even offer you to work with Torino here?"

"Work with? She just offered me this station while my agency was being fumigated"

Izuku froze, then his shoulders drooped. "Such a mundane thing…"

"That and I had intel that this area might have some strong villains to beat up." Her tapping foot echoed in the room. "I'm thinking that might've been doctored now."

"Rumi! Are you done there? Or are you gonna 'jump' the boy?" Torino called, her voice bouncing off of the walls. "I know you like to be rough around the edges but that's too much!"

Izuku heard something snap, which was probably Miruko's outfit on her shoulders. "Would you give me a second? I got a granny to kick around."

"O-ok?"

Miruko turned around before heading down the stairs, her cheeks still slightly red. "And Midoriya? Nice abs."

"Uh- Thanks?"

* * *

Meanwhile, In Miruko's mind;

He'shereHE'sherehe'shereHe'shereHe'sHEREwhyishehere?OhGodwhydidIsaythat?DidIlookathisabstoomuch?OhGodwasItooweird?

* * *

_"Dam̤n,͢ yo̦u̝ ͉di͇d͇n't̠ ̞ev̖e͎n s̩n̥eak̫ a ̠pe̬eḵ ̘a̙ṱ ̭th̡o͖se̖ ̥at al͕l d̙id̥ ̳y̭o̹u?̘"̢ _Nana whistled, voice sounding proud. _"Witͅh wil͍l͍powe͇r li̩ke̙ ̼t̞hat ̣n͇o ̘won̥der̼ ̻Toşh̟i chose̫ y̲o̼u̡ a̫s͍ h͟e͔ṟ ̢suc̠c̹ess̯or." _

Izuku whined leaning on the doorframe. _Can we _**_not_ **_?_

_"Fine,̺ fḭne. ͈Dͅidn͙'t ͇y͢o̪u̝ ̗wan̹t ͓t̟o ̬c̠hange?̞"̤_

_YEs! I DiD, THanK YoU! _He started tugging at the buttons of the skirt trying to force the garment off to just suddenly pause.

_...Nana, you don't watch me undress, do you?_

_"..." _He could feel her shift from one leg to the other uncomfortably. _".̰..Som̮et̼i͇me͉ş"_

_...Goddammit. _

_"Loo̠k̗! Yo̥u̪ are ̤hot, ͇o̼k̫?̜!" _she whined. _"P̞l̥us̲ it̝'s n͎ọt͓ ḷi͔ke͍ ̼I̳ g͕ot a͍nỵt̻h̭įn̮g ̮e̤l͢se t͙o̝ watc̘h her͓e." _

_You could go through my memories! Watch All Might fighting... I don't know!_

_"Y̮o̬u'͈r͕e ̲ri͍g͢ht! ͍I **c̤o͉u͈ld** rͅewąt̰c̘h̙ ͙yoͅu ͚f͢uc̢k̮i̥n̙g̪ ̪Mei̭!"_

_Wait, no, not that! _He could tell that she wasn't paying him any attention.

He felt a sudden spike in arousal hit his brain and the distinct feeling of Nana… doing... _something _.

_God- God dammit, Nana._

* * *

He didn't actually know what to do, but he decided that wearing his hero costume was a good idea, so that's what he did.

He smiled at the familiar weight of the gauntlets on his arms making him feel complete again. It felt weird how connected he had become to the giant armaments, but he didn't really mind.

What he was excited to actually try out was the addition Mei and Momo had built recently. _Well… more like Mei dragged Momo into building... _He tapped at his neck harness, rivets clicking to place halfway down his sternum and down between his shoulder blades. Plates of green metal stacked on top of each other now hung off his back and front, neatly clicking and moving around with his motions.

He thought the near-pyramid like protrusion near his chin would be slightly annoying, but he was surprised to feel that so far he didn't even notice it.

_Not like it's supposed to be there permanently anyways- now… let's actually test this out._

_...And hope it doesn't explode. _

He reached out with Total Command, trying to find neurons close enough to the base of the structure at the nape of his neck. When he had a good four he could force an action potential through, he did so.

This was the first time he was even attempting something like this and for a second, he worried that it wasn't even going to work. There was no way Mei could design something that could measure so miniscule of a-

The mass on his back hissed, suddenly unlatching and moving around, snapping like puzzle pieces around his neck, giving it support and protection. The main mass of plates then moved up the newly added exoskeleton, leaving only the bare necessary amount of the harness behind as it clicked around the back of his head starting to form a helmet, machinery telescoping and snapping together in a mesmerizing fashion. Just as the back started to shape up, the front of his suit hissed, the pyramid moving up the rails the neck harness provided to form the front of his helmet, a structure similar to his previous gas-mask with the additional metal plates forming a full faceplate, snapping into place against the rest of the helmet with a hiss.

Leaving him blinded.

He worried for a second that Mei had forgotten eyeholes for him to see through.

Then a soft humming sound alerted him, and a dot appeared, slowly lighting up as the world became visible again. He realized that she had installed screens in the inside of the helmet for him with a laugh, slowly a HUD coming online at the corners of his vision.

"Good afternoon, Deku," the helmet hummed. He couldn't help but smile

"Send a message to Mei saying that I love her."

" She knows. "

He took a second to take another look at himself. The angular design of the helmet matched the gauntlets perfectly and his smile just widened at the two antennae at his forehead, swooping back like the V fin on Mecha-Might, mimicking All Might's hair as his antennae had.

Then he noticed the 'eyes' of the helmet. To his surprise, they weren't just green lights where his eyes were supposed to be, but what looked like angular polygons that reminded him of the stylized eyes of Gundams, moving around and emoting exaggeratedly with his own.

He placed a hand over his chin and leaned in, one eye suddenly spawning an eyebrow that rose up while the other looked like it was squinting, copying what he was doing inside the mask.

He had to suppress a chuckle, only to fail, laughing with a grin on his face.

The eyes gained a new indent on their undersides, reflecting his smile on the metal frame of the helmet

He loved every second of his suit.

* * *

By the time he got down, the main hall was a mess, Gran Torino and Miruko jumping off the walls and clashing against each other in random locations.

"What?" he mumbled, in awe of the chaos, and the vicious… _sparring? _the two were going through.

"Think FAST!" Gran screeched, a second before she whizzed at him aiming to kick his head.

Izuku's gauntlet was up before his brain even processed those words, pushing the attack off trajectory, causing it to miss completely. He didn't have time to process that Gran Torino had attacked him before Miruko's kick followed. And in a moment of pure reflex, his other hand slammed and clamped around her ankle, spinning and pulling her down on the ground. His other arm wrapping around her thigh in a full leg-lock.

_Did I just- _

"...Ok, you got 5 seconds before you let go or I'll show you how much torque my legs have." Miruko grumbled from the ground. "Spoiler: it's enough to tear you in half."

Izuku jumped off the woman in an instant, the eyes on his helmet enlarging to convey fear his fear "I- I didn't- Sorry my body just acted on it-"

" Projectile approaching from the rear, " his suit beeped, gently poking the back of his head and neck to give him a feeling of where the attack was approaching from a second before the attack hit.

He spun with a gauntlet raised, barley deflecting Torino's attack again. "Could you stop?! What's going on?"

"Sparing," both responded without even blinking.

"...Why?"

"Stress relief," Miruko huffed, crossing her arms. "Got all heated up just standing around."

"More like _got _in heat," Gran smirked, shooting a sly glance at the younger hero.

"You wanna go for another round, Grandma?"

"Oh, at least you know you still have a lot to learn, newbie. Asking me to school you again and all."

Izuku felt the antennae on his head droop a bit as the women argued.

_Just how emotive did Mei even make this thing? _he grumbled in his head, looking at the two heroes that were about to go at it again. "Uh- Miruko-san, did you not say that there was a strong villain presence here? Should we go out for patrol?"

"Nah, Nozomi probably lied about that…" The Rabbit Hero paused, pinching her own chin. "...But, you're right, no harm in patrolling. Maybe I'll find a big fight!"

She grinned, her ears twitching before turning around and rushing out with a couple of hops.

"Ah- she didn't wait for us…" he attempted to scratch the back of his head only for his armored hand to clang against his armored head, _right that's there now… _he instead traced the seam lines of his helmet. "Guess she did say 'only weaklings team-up'."

"Feh, such horsecrap" Gran scoffed, looking at the slammed main door of the agency. "Now, runt. Tell me why you didn't use One for All."

Izuku's words caught in his throat for a second. With the sheer weight of all that had happened today, the fact that Gran Torino knew about One for All had slipped his mind, making the sudden reveal that she did all the more of a gut-punch. For a second, he needed to regain his bearings, making the old hero scoff again.

"I saw how you used it in the sports festival. And I can't stand seeing such… _misuse _of the power. You're treating it like it's just a crutch to let you be more powerful." She widened her stance, raising her arms back up. Then blurred out of his vision.

Izuku started searching the room hearing the taps of her feet hitting the walls, the ceiling, the floor, completely encompassing him in rapid jumps. Even faster than before.

"You think you can stand where she stood with just a basic understanding of the quirk?" The room echoed, not even her voice betraying Gran's true location.

She kicked him on the back of the head, even faster than before so that even the sensors couldn't keep up. The shock absorbers on his neck softened the blow as he stumbled forward.

"You think you can just coast with the amount of power you have?" she taunted, this time striking his face, making him stumble a few steps back even with his neckbrace absorbing most of the attack.

"All Might really is a terrible teacher if she thinks this is what it takes to be a hero!" she finished, landing a strike at his ribs, causing him to lean into the side with a hiss.

His mind was spinning. The speed Gran was showing off was nowhere near what she had been sparring with against Miruko.

He made the dull conclusion that both were holding back immensely as another kick almost made him buckle to his knees.

"I can't believe the ninth holder of One for All is such a useless hero," she jeered.

Izuku growled.

His vision had started tracking the form of the old hero, barely seeing her as a blur as all detail was dropped away at his visual cortex in order to see faster, just to keep up with the speed.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he could _do _anything with the visor possibly lagging the image. But dammit this was his only chance.

Even as he started to keep up with her form, he couldn't react in time, his own motions feeling glacial compared to the zipping of the pro.

"What's wrong, runt? Can't keep up?" Gran taunted one last time, jumping behind him again, aiming to strike him once more. "You think villains will wait for you to catch u-"

Izuku roared, forcing One for All into his arm and flinging it back. The momentum spun his whole body to face Gran just as her kick was about the land.

It was the first time he had activated One for All that fast, but he had no follow-up. Gran's kick landed in his stomach and caused him to fall on his back, the older hero standing over him victorious.

"What was that?" Gran hissed, stepping down from his body. "You still trying to make the thing that can't keep up work?" She rubbed her face, looking even more disappointed. "And I thought at least you had a good head on your shoulders, Toshiko really did pick someone useless for the job."

She picked up her cane and headed out the door. "Your reverence of All Might and insistence on using the same techniques are your shackles, brat. It's making you stiff." She sighed opening the door, light peering into the room as Izuku barely sat upright. "The way you are, you can't keep up being a hero."

That one stung more than any of her hits.

"I'm going to grab some food for us. You clean up the mess." Her pointed stare at him implied enough.

And with that, she slammed the door shut, leaving him alone in the apartment.

_...What just happened?_


	51. From our failures, we are refined

Katsumi looked at her new right gauntlet with pride.

She had no idea how Mei had done it, but the whole thing was almost lighter than her older one, the six cylinders now surrounding her forearm rotating with a satisfying click every time she clenched her ring and pinkie in a half fist and pulled her middle and pointer finger in. Each chamber was numbered, and each number was split into bars showing how full the chamber was.

Mei had even managed to add in a staircase system to her sweat acclimation. One was always the most full while the rest followed in increments. She didn't know _how _that could even be wired up, let alone weigh almost nothing.

She loved the new gauntlet and she loved the new goggles she had thrown in. They fit around her eyes comfortably and by their looks, they were robust enough to withstand her strongest explosion.

Not to mention Mei had managed to add in a HUD showing how full her canisters were, including her old gauntlet.

All in all, Katsumi wasn't sure if she was in love with the new gear or scared of Mei for being able to build such complex yet robust support tools.

She probably was a bit of both.

Too bad she wasn't really going to be using them in combat, she mused sadly as she walked behind Best Jeanist closely, taking the boring patrol route.

The pro had decided that she was 'too rough around the edges', so she was talking through proper 'etiquette' as they made another lap around her agency.

_I hope at least the others are learning something useful._

* * *

"No, no, Uraraka-san!" Gunhead called out, shaking her strong arms in front of her. "You can't go at it from that angle! Your opponent's weight would dislocate your shoulder!"

"Oh— Oh right! Sorry, forgot," the brunette chirped, letting go of her training partner, a rather bulky sidekick of the robust hero. "I shouldn't lean on my quirk like that, you're right"

"It's fine, it's fine. It's just the first day anyway; you are doing great!" Gunhead laughed, voice unmuffled even with her full mask on her face. "Now again! From the top!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

* * *

"Madam." Momo stared up onto the eyes of the lankier pro.

If she were to estimate she would be barely taller than Izuku.

"If you try to put me in that tickle-machine, I will personally sue you for sexual harassment."

Madam Nighteye adjusted her glasses. "I see. I will avoid such a future then. Now—"

"Tell me a joke."

"...This agency's HR department."

* * *

"Kirishima!?"

"Tetsutetsu!?"

Both heroes clapped their hands in a rough handshake. "What are you doing here!?"

Fourth Kind rubbed her forehead and picked up a cigar with her other hand, biting on it just to calm her nerves a bit. _Why did I even think having two of the same hero would be a good idea? _

Her eye twitched as their conversation grew louder and more animated, until she roared, punching both on the top of their heads with her other two arms. "Shut up for a second!"

She winced at the pain on her knuckles, both had activated their quirk before the impact hit.

_At least they have good reflexes… I can work with that. _

* * *

Izuku pulsed the bundle of nerves again, the mask hissing and slowly un-assembling from his face and sliding back on top of the harness on his chest with a click, locked securely.

He pulled off his gauntlets and set them on the table, trying to come to terms with just what had happened.

_At least the visor wasn't the issue. It was me. _

_"__̲S͙ḫe̖ ̜w̭as͉ bein̼g ̼hąrͅs̝h̤ ̣a̤n̞d ̧g͚r͉ump̯y̡,͎ ̞d̨o̟n̮'t ̫ta̝k͢e i̭t to̖ hear̝t,"̭_ Nana chimed, trying to console him a little.

"No," he breathed out rubbing his hand over his mouth, "she was right. All Might would've kept up with that. I've seen her take down enemies faster than that."

_"__Bu͎t̟ ̼you̜ ͙ar̨en͍'t̰ ̻A̯l̺l ͟M̭ight!̞ N̺ot͜ ̲y͓et̟, ͟a̠t̪ le̱a͉st̞!"̬ _Nana shot back.

Izuku paused for a second rolling his eyes.

_"__Ok̠,̯ ̰f͈in̳ẹ.͖ Maybe y̜o̫u̪ sh̡o͉ul͢d'̼v̥e ̨b̮e͍ęn a̲bl͟e t̝o ̳ḳeep̗ ̪u͕p,ͅ" _Nana relented and he almost felt her crash into a chair. _"I ͙d͙o̠n'͓t evȩn̙ ̖r͜e̞m̼e̟mb̝er̙ h͙ow̗ ̖s̥h̝e͇ ̰d͚o̗ḙs̥ ̙t̯ḩa̞t ̝aṉd ̤Ị ̳fee͇l͎ terrib̦le b͉e̜ca̳u͔se̞ ̭I ̖ca̰n̗'t͔ he̮lp y͖o̝u̝." _

He smiled softly. _...Thanks, Nana. _

_"__Than̪k me̮ w̨h͜ẹn̗ ̯we͢ f͟įg̱u̫r͕e̫ ͇th̰is o̝ṵt,̘" _she huffed back. _"Now…̫ a͍ny̬ ̜cl̫u͇e̺ hͅow y͈o͕u ḁr̞e ͟go͚n̳na̪ ͢ca̙t̜chͅ ͙up t͢o̼ ͚speed l̝i͜k̝e̠ ̯th̗at̬?̖" _

_Hmmm…_

He pulled a notebook out of his cargo pants, flipping through the pages. Trying to get some inspiration.

He paused at Ochako's page.

"Using the quirk on her body she can make herself float."

He read it again, slower.

_"__N͙o,̺ ̨la̞s͍t ţim͎e̺ ͓yǫu d̻i͕d̦ ͅth̘a̲t̝…" _

_You decreased the strain on my body by decreasing the power output to 5%_

_"__Y͚ea̡h̹,͍ e̙v͉en ͚th̡e̪n t̫h̹e a̗ct̰iva̝t̩ion ͕t͓ook̺ t̟oo l̡o̙ṋgͅ.͎ W̩o̰u̬ld i͕t ͈e͟v͖en̬ m̨ạtter?͇" _

_...What if I didn't let go of it?_

_"__W͔hat̼?"_

He shoved the notes back into its pocket, pulling out the notes for theories instead. "Currently, I just use my quirk in bursts, right? Channel it, use it for an attack, let it go, then channel it again when I need it."

_"__Becausͅḛ if y̗o̡u di͓d̼ṇ't, ̢ev̘e͚ry̙ m̦oti̠o̠n w͟o͓u͕ld b͕e at͍ 10͢0% ͉a͍n̠d͍ yo̗u͢ ͟wo̤ul͟d̩ ͕d̟efini̫t̳e̹l͓y d̨o̫ mor͕e̹ ̜ṭhḁn̪ d̦isͅl͚o͖c̟a̠t͍e͖ you͙r ̢arm.̘" _

"Right. But what if I just used 5%?"

_"__.͔.͓.̫Y̺ou̻r ̢a̮rm ͟co̞uld̩ ̣w̜iͅthsta̟n͚d ͚t̬ha̢t ̖litt͟leͅ!"̞_

"Right! And if I coat my whole body and keep it that way?"

_"__The̼n͚ th̹e ch̗a̪rge̼-̩u̮p atͅ ̮the̩ ̠s̘t̞art̳ ̻w̗ouͅl̦d̟n'tͅ ma͍t̪ter…͈" _

"Exactly!" He closed the book huffing with a little pride. "At least that's the theory"

_"__N̗o̬w̼ t̹o ͈see if tha̖t̗ wọrks̟ ̮in p̼rac̗tic͕e.̖" _

* * *

Gran Torino was sitting outside by the door, eavesdropping on the monologue.

_Weird… it sounds like he is talking to someone. Feh, maybe that newfangled helmet has a phone in it…_

_Still. _

She smiled a little. _Guess the kid really does have a good head on his shoulders. _

_Wonder if I should apologise…_

She pushed the door open, leading with her hand carrying the bags with groceries. "Food's here!"

_Maybe if he prepares the food properly._

* * *

Ibara was struggling to keep the rubble held up. Her mentor, Kamui Woods, was making her focus on rescue training over any combat training as per her request, as she was against combat.

"Almost four minutes, good job. You can talk to Cementoss when you get back to U.A. If you can hold rubble open or prop up weakened structures you'll be invaluable at disaster relief."

If she could see into Ibara's mind Kamui would balk at the thoughts running through her head.

She was trying to match the strength of someone who had broken through a building sized glacier. The strapping, strong body of-

"Woah, don't raise it too far off the ground. You are trying to keep it stable not bench-press it," Kamui lectured, Ibara's vines lowering back down after realizing what she was doing.

"S-sorry, just- thought of something… maddening." she mumbled, returning to a praying position.

At least there was no chance of meeting him this week.

* * *

Gran was grumbling at the dinner table by the time Miruko had returned from her patrol and when she closed the door a little harshly, some dust fell from the walls. Her eyes traced the dust to their source.

"...Why are there crushed sections of the wall?"

"Because I had to prove a point," Gran shot back with some petulance to her voice. "Now, can you tell this boy that Takoyaki is a filling meal?"

"Oh, welcome back, Miruko!" Izuku smiled at her. "And, Gran for the last time, at your age I won't feed you _just _takoyaki!"

He was wearing an apron that was just a little too tight around his chest, hugging his pecs tightly and his hair pulled up to a messy bun on top of his head, making him look a little older. And with the stunning smile on his face...

She really hoped he didn't notice how her ears twitched at the sight. Him in an apron cooking a meal.

"You should listen to your elders!" the smaller pro hissed.

"And you should get proper nutrition!" the younger and taller student shot back.

Miruko fought the urge to fan her face. "W-what are you even cooking?"

"Oh, some beef fried rice," he hummed, gently shaking the wok in his hands, "and a side of orange chicken, some edamame…" He trailed off.

"That's a lot of food," she mumbled, sitting at the round table across from Gran Torino.

"I would make a big portion of just one but we didn't have enough. And I kinda eat _a lot," _he admitted sheepishly, one hand going to the bun on the top of his head then thought against it, pulling back down. "I'll ask Nezu if they can adjust a bigger fridge for me, cause otherwise, we'll have to do food runs every day."

Miruko shivered, her imagination running wild, imagining her going to the store with Izuku's arm hooked to hers, his biceps rubbing against her ski-

She shook her head, swearing that she would never admit she wanted that.

"Whatever. You just have a black-hole for a stomach," Gran grumbled, her age showing.

Miruko suppressed a laugh. The grumpy old woman shot her a look in return.

Izuku didn't even seem to mind the casual chatter going behind him, tending to multiple pots and pans with the efficiency of an experienced chef. One with experience longer than twenty years, at least…

_Huh… _

Miruko paused, then decided to just screw it and question him about it. "So... why and how do you cook so well, Midoriya? It smells heavenly"

"Oh, that? Lunch-Rush taught me when I interned at UA for a while," he murmured, taking an edamame and tasting if it was done or not.

The next second both her and Torino had portions of it in front of them, steam coming off of the prepared food.

She blinked trying to figure out what had just happened. _...That— was that faster than the Sports Festival? _

_Actually, that reminds me… _"Hey, what even _is _your quirk?"

Izuku laughed. Miruko tried to suffocate the butterflies in her stomach by eating some of the edamame he had cooked. "Its something simple really. I can just control every bodily function I have."

"The lightning?" she inquired, pulling the edamame shell out of her mouth and tossing it into the trash bowl he had provided.

"That's what happens when I force more than 100% of my power to a muscle group," he said with a shrug.

"Quirks are weird," she huffed with finality, digging into her meal.

Gran had a soft smile on her face over the lie Izuku had come up with, as well as his burst of speed.

She wondered if he was already practicing his new understanding of One for All.

* * *

"...Fucking rat-bear-dog-thing…" he muttered when it was time to finally go to bed after their dinner.

He never realized that there was only _one _bedroom.

At least there were three beds.

At least he had that level of normalcy.

He feared the day Nozomi went Plus Ultra and took that away from him too.

He rubbed his face as he changed in the bathroom, coming into terms with how it wasn't a matter of if but a matter of _when _.

_"__C'm̝o̞n,̬ ̩it͎'s͖ ̻n̞o̞t that b̤ad!̢" _Nana tried to cheer him up, a phantom sensation of her hand on his shoulder, rubbing soothingly.

_Yeah… yeah, thanks, Nana. _

He could feel her smile, stunning and comforting at the same time.

He smiled in return.

* * *

"...You seriously going to wear that?" Gran asked with a raised eyebrow.

Miruko scoffed, tugging at her black short shorts and comfy white sports bra. "I didn't know I was going to have a sleepover: I didn't pack anything else. I don't even have anything 'modest'... unlike you. What even are you wearing?"

"It's a nightdress, you strumpet!" the older woman huffed. "Aren't you cold in that?"

"I'm almost at the point of sweating, what are you talking about?" the younger pro whined.

"It's the hormones," the gruff pro grumbled. "Bet you are gonna try to jump him in the middle of the night, too."

"Can we _not _go there?" Izuku muttered from the other side of the door. "And are you guys done fighting there? I wanna get _some _sleep."

"We are done, runt," Gran grumbled, climbing on top of her bed. "This old woman is going to bed, do whatever."

Miruko was going to say something in protest but she noticed Gran had already taken out her hearing aids. She grumbled and climbed into bed as well, laying her head on her pillow. "You can come in, Midoriya."

The door opened, and he walked in, wearing a baggy shirt and loose shorts, sleep in his eyes as he took a few more steps, yawning. "Thanks, Miruko. Good night," he mumbled, almost crumbling into bed with a roll.

She blinked in the dark.

_Well… that's one way to get into bed._

* * *

Mei grumbled, rolling from side to side in Izuku's bed.

She hadn't slept in the same bed as him before the internships, trying to rush the additions to his costume, but now she was regretting it.

His bed was too big and... Empty.

She whimpered a bit at the feeling.

She was feeling lonely.

She smiled with melancholy. It was… a weird feeling. Knowing someone she loved was far away.

Knowing that Izuku had somehow made his way so deep into her heart, so deep into her life that just him not being there in the bed was causing her to feel so… empty inside.

She reached for her phone, managing to play her voicemails from the earlier day.

" Send a message to Mei saying that I love her. "

She smiled with a sniffle hugging his pillow onto her chest, acting like it was him.

She was going to give him the biggest hug ever when he came back next week.

* * *

Izuku grumbled as he rolled from side to side, not able to find a comfortable position to sleep in until he sighed and used Total Command to force his body into sleep.

Miruko groaned, her ears picking up him rustling around until she got out of her bed, walking up to the foot of his bed to ask him 'what gives', only to pause when she realized he was sleeping.

Her red eyes looked at the man sprawled on the bed, his shirt hiked up showing off his muscular core and his face with a soft frown that still managed to look equal parts cute and hot.

It wasn't really fair for a woman in her prime, but Miruko kept vigilant, pulling his shirt down and his covers over his body instead of listening to _any _of her carnal urges.

She smiled softly when he murmured a thank you in his sleep, hugging the covers closer to his body while turning to his side.

* * *

Izuku got up with a groan, rubbing his eyes groggily. He hated forcing himself to sleep like that, somehow he just didn't get the same quality of rest.

It was still better than nothing, though.

He got up from his bed, scratching his chest as he walked towards the door, aiming to go to the kitchen/living room downstairs to get some tea to wake up. Only to pause midway though, seeing something he couldn't even believe.

Miruko had curled up into a ball in her sleep, her ears relaxed back, somehow turning her into a cute loaf.

He looked at her for a few more seconds before Nana woke up fully too, chastising him for staring for so long. He came to his senses and nearly rushed out of the room.

The moment he left Miruko opened up an eye, her face turning red with a powerful blush.

* * *

Jirou looked at the breakfast the hero agency she was interning at had provided.

_...I miss Izuku and Sato._

* * *

_Don't offer him a sidekick position. No teams, remember. _

_No teams. Can't have him as a sidekick. _

Miruko took another bite of the carrot-pancakes Izuku had made, the young man lazily drinking some tea to wake up on the other side of the table.

_Can't— Oh fuck it._

_If he feeds me like this every morning, I'll even marry him. _

The dark-skinned heroine paused, blinking, her face getting redder and redder as the thoughts sunk in.

Izuku blinked curiously when he saw Miruko start to shovel food in her mouth like she had been starving for a week, then rush back into the bedroom.

"Must be excited for patrol…" he muttered, taking another sip of his tea. "Wonder if I could join her."

"You got to beat me before you go on any patrols, Runt," Gran grumbled, munching more on her breakfast.

"Right— wait," he looked at the older hero. "When did you get here?"

"Couple of minutes back when you were looking dreamily at Playboy Bunny over there."

"I see," he mumbled taking another sip, before getting up and setting up the dishwasher. "Can you turn it on when you are done?"

"Yeah, yeah, go up stairs and suit up," the older woman mumbled, eating her pancakes.

"Is… Is it alright if I spar with Miruko before you today? I want to test something out."

"...Fine, show off to the girl. Maybe you'll get _something _done this time," Gran shot with a pointed look.

Izuku didn't really mind the stare or the implication

"Thank you."

* * *

Miruko paused when Izuku asked for her to stop at the gates of the bedroom they all shared. She was trying her best trying not to let her blush into her face. "Alright, what do you want?"

"I was curious if we could spar," he asked bashfully, scratching the back of his head, causing all of his hair to shake slightly, showing off how fluffy it was.

She wanted her hands in it, Goddammit.

"Spar?" The words clicked a moment after she asked the question back, her heart hammering in her chest and a smirk slowly forming on her face. Oh, he was ticking all the boxes and she didn't even care right now. "Sure, if you think you can keep up."

"I… think I'll be able to," he said, voice unsure.

But his eyes held a green inferno that made her insides squirm with excitement.

"Meet me at the back," she commanded with a smirk.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

She was done with her stretches by the time he came downstairs, his full suit on.

She loved and hated how form fitting it was over his chest. And the bunny ears that kept twitching around was just adorable, even with the eyes giving her a resolute glare.

"Ok, before we start, I'm gonna try something I haven't before, so…" He widened his stance, pulling his arms up in a fighting stance "Might need to stop this a little in..."

"You are just saying that 'cause you're scared!" Miruko taunted, cracking her neck. "What are you even going to try?"

"This."

For a moment Miruko was taken aback as small green sparks started coming off his body, hitting the ground more and more as they grew in size and started stabilizing, the arcs slowly starting to wrap around his body rather than jump between spots.

The weirdest thing was to see the eyes on the suit change when the spark hit it, the green eyes becoming brighter, the screen glitching in such a way to look like the eyes were on fire.

She heard him let go of a breath he was holding in.

"Ok, so... not dying, that's a start," he breathed out, voice calm and strong.

"It sure is. But can you move like that?" she shot back, excited at the prospect of fighting whatever this new form was.

"One way to find out, isn't there?" She could feel his smirk on his voice, even without the eyes of his suit hinting at it.

Miruko roared with laughter, dropping a hand onto the ground, preparing to attack.

For that moment, she wanted to fight something other than the fact that she was falling for him hard.

And she was excited all the more for it.


	52. The only way to get rid of temptation

Izuku backpedaled, nearly slamming head-first onto the ground as an axe-kick from Miruko almost connected with the top of his head. His helmet screamed about the proximity of the attack as he attempted to regain his bearings.

He was faster with this new way of using One for All.

Wayyyyy too fast.

His own body was getting in his way every time he dodged one of her attacks. Even just keeping his own feet under him was being a challenge.

He just wasn't used to this new speed.

He pulled his head back, dodging another roundhouse kick from the pro. The force of his lean alone would've given him whiplash if not for the shock absorbers Mei had jammed his headgear with.

In spite of it all, he was sporting a smirk, one that was mirrored by Miruko.

_"S̪o ̟ṯh̢is͓ i̟ş ͟w͉ha͇t͜ bei̮ng͕ a̬n a̯dre͜n͎alin͖ȩ ̞j̥u̝nk̖ie̫ ̧f̯ee͢ls͔ like̱ ͈hu̧h͈?̦"̲_

_Nana, 'Flow'. _

_"R̬ig̝ht,̩ r̰igh̞t." _

He needed all the processing power he could get right now.

He breathed out and felt the nonessential parts of his brain shut down, emotion leaving him. In response, the eyes on his mask twitched, then split into three horizontal lines spanning his whole face.

He rolled under one of Miruko's kicks, getting behind her in an instant, but before he could land a solid hit she countered with another roundhouse, Izuku barely flipping back to dodge and gain some more distance from the Rabbit Hero.

"What's wrong? Can't keep up?" Miruko taunted. Her crimson eyes were a little wild and a smirk threatening to split her face in half. He caught the tensing of her neck flow down into powerful shoulders. Each twitch of her head to read his movements plain as day as her upper torso flexed.

Izuku didn't respond, only clenched his fists and pulled them up into a boxer's stance.

Miruko laughed. "Oh? Gonna tank it out? And here I thought I needed to get serious before I could land a hit!"

Izuku got in close, closer than Miruko could have expected. She felt her breath taken away as she had half a second to dodge the punch that came her way. Flexing her powerful core and forcing herself to keep her breath level, she dodged several more jabs that were leveled her way, forcing the heroine to go on the defensive for a moment.

_Oh, he's getting my hopes up._

He shot out with a left hook that moved faster than it had any right to considering the bulk of machinery on his forearm. Some stray sparks caught Miruko on the arm, an action that almost caused her to flinch until the energy melted into her skin and she felt it.

_Determination? _

The sensation was intoxicating. Was the source of this amount of raw determination Izuku?She felt exhilaration, her smile getting wider. _If he wants a real fight..._

The next moment, in the place she once stood was a crater, the white and brown blur that was Miruko closing the distance between them in an instant, leg pulled back, ready to deliver the massive payload only her muscular thighs could deliver.

She released the kick, her foot arcing towards his gauntlet and head fast enough to break the sound barrier, cracking like a whip.

Maybe she was going too hard against the man; there was no way he could shake that of—

He shifted and twisted into a crouch, knees bending and tensing as her leg shot over him, his right gauntlet guarding his head even as he ducked down his body passing right under her foot.

She had a fraction of a second to see his left hand remain on her strike-zone. Palm open. A moment later, she felt his hand lock around her ankle again. His grip was tighter than it had any right to be considering how fast her leg had been moving.

Momentum kicked in, with her ankle caught, her spinning motion pulled him towards her, even as he spun in close with a dancers grace.

The next thing she knew, her back was against his front, his abs and the metal bits on his chest digging into the back of head and torso. Her left leg bent at the knee, ankle still gripped tight in his hand.

His right arm wrapped around her torso, hooking under her knee and locking her arms in place.

A blush started to spread on her cheeks at the intimate position.

_Ok just calm down, the spar is still going on…. It's just a part of the spar. _She was supporting her weight on her right foot, so she just needed to lift that off the ground and he'd lose balance giving her an opening. _Ok, ok let me just…_

She enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms against her for a second longer before set her plan into motion, lifting her foot off the ground.

He didn't lose balance.

He didn't even stumble trying to compensate for her additional weight on his body.

Her ears twitched strongly, realizing just how easily he was lifting her. And how easily he could do _other _thin—

She shook her head trying to get those ideas out of her head. Suddenly, the shift of her weight changed and she blinked as she felt him begin to tense for some sort of attack. On reflex, she kicked with her right leg, catching him on the top of his bent knee.

For a second she didn't know what happened, only hearing the bones crackle and his arms drop her to the ground, using her chance to get into her fighting stance ready to pounce again.

That was when she noticed his stance.

His right leg had embedded itself up to the ankle into the ground below, and a soft hiss of pain emanating from the taller man, body slightly twitching from immense pain. The sparks surrounding his body dissipating along with the lines on his visor turning back into two eyes. "Note to self, don't bear hug the top 6th hero like that's gonna accomplish _anything. _"

She dropped her stance, gasping lightly at the sight "Oh— oh sorry I didn't mean to-" she hissed. that wasn't even a powerful kick, nothing her legs couldn't withstand; her wide hips and thicker thighs weren't just for show after all.

But it could've easily crippled him for life.

He raised a hand dismissing the apology. "It's— It's fine; I've got strong bones, and nothing broke" he hissed and tugged at his leg trying to pull it out of the ground. "At least I don't think so"

"Ok, stop that" she ordered walking up to him and looking down on his embedded leg "you are over-straining the joint, just... let me do this. It's the least I could do."

Her arms wrapped around his calf near to the dirt he had been embedded in and pulled with her strong legs, pulling him out with ease.

A cough alerted both of them, Izuku's head snapping back to see Gran Torino looking at his back.

...Seeing Miruko bent down in front of him.

"You done sucking the soul out of the runt?" She smirked. "Strumpet."

Miruko twitched, her face turned red and looked up to his face from her spot, crouched in front of him. He could see her being torn between jumping away or jumping over him to attack Gran for her words.

She finally decided to do both, jumping back and around him to attack the older pro.

* * *

"So, what have we learned today?"

"Old women need to be culled?" Miruko questioned, walking next to Izuku.

"Not... really, but I can see where you are coming from."

He didn't know how, but they had somehow ended up going out for a patrol together.

Honestly, he would be bouncing from wall to wall at the fact that he was on patrol!

With a pro!

WITH MIRUKO!

But the comments Torino had left had created this uncomfortable aura between them, and the weird glances he kept getting from the civilians was putting even more of a downer on his mood.

Then again it was probably caused by the helmet. From the outside, it probably looked like Miruko was walking around with either an intense cosplayer or some kind of beefed-up robot.

_"Hęy̪,͍ ͈at ͙least̮ ̪ṱhe͈y̜ a̤ren̖'t̯ ̫sͅwarmi̞n̰g ͙y̩ou̻.̗"_

_Fair point…_

"So uh—" he stole a glance at Miruko, who's ears twitched a bit at his interruption. "What are we supposed to do on patrol anyway?"

"Check out anything suspicious going on, kick some ass if there is." She shrugged. "But this place is quiet, not even a purse snatching yesterday."

"I mean, you were on patrol, they were probably scared off." He traced the seam lines on the back of his helmet again. "You _are _Miruko 'The Rabbit Hero' after all."

She rubbed under her nose with a smirk, trying to hide the soft blush forming on her cheeks. "Right!" She then placed her hands on her hips as she puffed up with pride. "No way these weakling villains here would challenge me!"

Izuku chuckled at the sight. "Of course!"

* * *

_Sluuuuurp._

"Shoko, would you stop eating that goddamn soba and get over here? We have work to do."

Eiji sighed heavily, letting the flames on her shoulders flare. _I could have been training _**_him_ **_right now._

Sure, it had been expected that Shoko would take her offer. Who else could show the younger Todoroki how to walk the true path of the mighty? The brat had finally accepted her left side and they could actually begin working on making her strong enough to overtake that blonde _bitch _.

But… She would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that Midoriya had rejected her offer.

Well.

Maybe _disappointed _was the wrong word. A more accurate word would be **_furious._**

She slipped away from where Shoko was staring her down in the kitchen, slurping down a bowl of cold soba. The door to her office clicked closed behind her, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Thoughts of him.

She let out a roar and hurled a fireball at the wall of her office, successfully scorching a new burn in the dark marble. Movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, drawing her to the large mirror in her office. Eiji took a moment to stroll over, appreciating the sway in her hips as she did so. She had left all the actual _birthing _to Rei, which left Eiji with her perfect figure intact.

_Perfect. _She ran a hand down her slender waist, admiring the ridges where her strong core left impressions in her suit, letting her fingers appraise the fire-retardant, navy blue material as she moved her hand over her amply wide hips. With her other hand, she surveyed her ample breasts, tracing a line between her cleavage up to her collarbone and to her smooth neck. Her face was flawless as she dropped the flames around her eyes, not a single blemish or wrinkle in sight.

She had the body and looks of a 25-year-old, so she didn't get it. Didn't he want power? She could offer him strength and influence that most couldn't even dream of. If not for the power, her experience? She had years of it. She was the number two hero, dammit!

And if not for those… Then for herself?

The things she could show him.

She grimaced, turning around to examine her healthy thighs and rear.

What man _wouldn't _jump at the chance to have her?

The grinding of her own teeth caused her temper to flare back up, her 'mask' roaring to life again. She would find him. Shoko had informed her that she had no idea where he was interning, but she would _find him _and she would make him **_hers._**

Running a hand through her hair, shaking out the long, burgundy locks and giving herself one last once over in the mirror.

She would give him a night to remember, and he would give her the key to a new generation.

* * *

Izuku shuddered mid-walk rubbing his arms.

"Does your costume let in too much cold?" Miruko questioned raising an eyebrow. _It is pretty skin tig— _She shook herself, looking back up at Izuku. His eyes looked scared.

"No just, had a bad feeling," he shook it off raising to his full height again, looking down on her with the angular eyes hinting at the slightest smirk. "Kinda like Nozomi plotting but, not as bad"

She pouted slightly, the constant reminder that he was a full head taller than her making itself apparent. "Well, that's a high bar to pass, anyway"

"...Do you feel her plotting from time to time, too?" he asked with a tinge of fear in his voice.

"Oh, absolutely."

"What even _is _that? A second quirk?"

"I mean considering it affects people not in UA, too…" she shrugged. "No fucking clue. Memetic maybe?"

"...That's the first time I heard that word spoken out loud"

"Huh? Is it weird? I mean there is nothing better to use in that instance—" Her ears drooped in a show of confusion and slight apprehension. "Is there?"

"No— nono, nothing describes that effect better than 'memetic'" He rubbed the pyramid shape on the front of his mask. "Is that how you pronounce it?"

"I _think _so?" Miruko mumbled, pushing stray hairs behind her ear. "Only heard it once on the hero briefing, weird-ass villain that could infect people with a thought that jumped from host to host"

"Oh right, what was she called..." Izuku snapped his fingers trying to recall the villain that was such a big problem three years ago. " It was something kinda dumb, too… 'Brainplague'?"

"Like _I _remember that weaklings name," Miruko scoffed. "Heard she got taken down by Snipe or something."

"Yeah, long-range takedown, the only way it could've been done without risking a pro under her influence…" Izuku trailed off looking at the shorter woman. "...are you mad you didn't get to kick her?"

Her ears twitched, and she pouted turning her whole body away from him. "I didn't say that!"

_Oh, no, she is adorable!_

_"Hey,̠ h̨e̩y ͙y̬o͟u ̙k̼n̰o̹w w̥haṭ w̮o͍uld̟ be ̼even ̩çut̠er? ̳If you ͉t̝e͎ased ̮h͉e̟r̻~"͙_

_Wha— no!_

_"Ţeąs͢e th̙e͍ bun̮ny!̨" _

* * *

She _swore _he was doing this on purpose. It seemed like every time the duo waved at a pair of civilians, his arms would flex more than was strictly necessary. It was like he was radiating power with every motion.

It was intoxicating.

And it was _unfair._

He had no right to be this absurd mix of gentle, powerful, commanding, innocent, and sexy—

_Goddammit._

She bit the inside of her cheek as a form of protest against her treacherous wandering imagination. The morning's sparring session hadn't helped at all. Him holding her in that… frankly exhilarating position, then that goddamn old bat coming in and making things even weirder! She had been just trying to help him up, not get into _that _position.

_Not that I'd be oppose—_

Miruko stifled a small groan of frustration.

In spite of _everything _that had happened that morning, the patrol had been surprisingly pleasant. She honestly never could have imagined going on patrol with someone else would be enjoyable, but Izuku made it that way. He was charming and funny in ways that were, again, _unfair._

She had found herself smiling or laughing on more than one occasion, and after buying a pair of sandwiches at a shop that he insisted on paying for in spite of the fact that Miruko had a heroine's income, she was actually happy.

Happily sitting on the ledge of a rooftop with Izuku demasked as the pair had lunch.

"You know, I could have paid for them. I don't like handouts."

Izuku shrugged, swallowing a bite of his chicken salad sandwich. "I know. Consider it my way of thanking you for letting me patrol with you. I'm learning a lot, and I really appreciate it."

"Well, fine then," she huffed, sipping on her bottle of aloe juice. "But next time, I'm buying."

"That's fair." Izuku inhaled the last bite of his sandwich with a contented hum.

Miruko frowned. "Are you sure that's gonna be enough for you?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I eat a lot, but this should tide me over until dinner. If anything, I can steal some of Gran's taiyaki when she's not looking."

The heroine giggled at that, _again! _

_Unfair. Unfair. Unfair! _

Izuku sighed deeply, breathing in the fresh air.

"That helmet must get stuffy, you feeling better?"

He shook his head. "Well, I mean, yeah. But, the helmet actually has a really good filtration system, helps by actually filtering the air so that my lungs can work more efficiently. But, I don't know, it's nice to feel the breeze."

Miruko took stock of the retracted neck brace, marveling at how all that machinery could fit inside such a small housing. "Why the helmet and neck brace, though? Seems a bit excessive."

Izuku winced. "It uh, let's just say I may be durable, but I'm not immune to decapitation."

There was a story here. One he wasn't willing to share with her just yet. "Right, well, that makes sense I guess." She finished her sandwich with a final bite before draining the last of her juice. "Wanna get back to it?"

The man nodded, his helmet reforming itself around his head. As his electronic eyes burst to life, he did what Miruko could only assume was a smile judging by the shape of the eyes. "Yeah, let's get going."

* * *

_Tomorrow… _

Tomoyo could only think about Stain's upcoming attack. It was going to be tomorrow.

She nodded at the pro she had chosen to go with, talking about something she didn't manage to catch in the conversation. Her mind was on other things.

More important things.

Her eyes darted along every dark alleyway they passed, looking for at least a sign of the monster she was hunting, none to be seen.

She fought off a scoff, of course not. Stain was a beast that had managed to go uncaptured for months, no way she was gonna catch her just lurking in the shadows.

If it was that easy, her sister wouldn't have…

She stifled a whimper. _My sister wouldn't have…_

"Hey... you alright, Tomoyo?" the pro questioned landing a hand on her shoulder.

The contact reminded her of him.

_"There is no shame in talking with a friend, right?"_

"Yeah… just need to make a call, can I?"

"O-Oh, of course! Haha, go ahead!" Tomoyo could feel the pity in her eyes, but honestly didn't care. She was just bait, anyway.

She took a few steps away, pulling her helmet down and pulling her phone out

* * *

Miruko flinched when Izuku's antennae suddenly perked up, his simulated eyes growing with shock.

"What's wrong?"

"This thing has a _PHONE!? _"

Yeah, she is definitely gonna take Mei up on her offer for the gear.

"You got a call?"

Izuku blinked, looking at Tomoyo's name flashing on the corner of his hud. "Yeah, I really need to take this… "

_How do I even do that? Just— _"Answer call?"

The call connected, and he looked to see Miruko looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Tomoyo mumbled.

Miruko didn't react.

_Privacy mute. Neat._

"I… decided to take you up on your offer, Izuku."

Izuku's eyes widened at her use of his given name. Followed by the pregnant pause she seemed to fight through. "O-of course. Everything alright—"

"Yeah, after tomorrow, everything is going to be perfect." that raised a few red flags. "After tomorrow, the hero-killer will be no more."


	53. Live not for Battles Won

"What?- "

Izuku sounded startled and lost, but Tomoyo didn't have the frame of mind to comprehend that, let alone get affected by it.

"Iid- Tomoyo, what are you talking about? "

"I'm going to finish what my sister started. I just wanted to tell you that. After all, there is no shame in talking with friends is there?"

"Wha- that's not what I- "

"Thank you for listening Izuku, I need to go now, I'm on patrol"

"Wha- wait what do you me- "

She ended the call, shutting her phone off before placing it back in its compartment in her suit.

* * *

"-an by 'I'm gonna finish-"

"Call ended. "

He blinked, staring into his HUD, the call disconnected sign flashing before pulling back into the bars that were on the peripherals of his vision.

"Redial"

_"__D̰id ̬y͈ou͟r ̠fr͜i̺e̦nd j̤us̥t͙ a̤dm̦i̞t ̡t̳o ḩu͈n̟ti͇n̖g̳ t̨he f͢uck̪i͚ng̹ ̳h̲ero kil̠l̳er̹?" _Nana piped up as his helmet hummed with the ringing tone.

"Call couldn't connect, they are either out of service, or their phone has been turned off."

_Oh goddammit-_

"Contact Mei, I need a location on Iida"

"Affirmative, contacting Mother "

He sighed as the phone rung on her side, tapping his foot on the ground.

"She seems to be busy right now, left a message in its stead. "

"Thank you, turn privacy mute off" he huffed turning back to Miruko who looked worried over his constant silence, even saying something that he couldn't hear.

"Privacy mute off. "

"Everything alright? You kinda stopped in your tracks, after- I'm guessing a phone call?"

"Yeah- a classmate called- Ingenium's sister." He mumbled walking up next to her as they started their patrol again.

"Oh- she feeling… probably not." she mumbled, her ears flopping down "That was a terrible thing to happen, really."

_"__Ki̮nd̥a̺ ̝t̢h̟oug͇h̖t s̖he̝'̩d ͅjṳs͎ṯ c̢a͟ll̥ ̭h̦er̲ ̗a̗ w̰eak͖l̳i̪ng and ̥la̧ug͔h͢ abo͚ut̪ ͉it _"

_Jesus christ Nana-_

_"__I̥ was̳ ̘ex͉p̟e͇cti̥ng the wor̤s̫t! No̪ţ ̹a̬ll͙ hero͕es ͉ar̥e̠ ̨perf̥ęct!͔"̱_

* * *

Eiji sneezed all over her monitor displaying Izuku flexing

* * *

"She… took it well for the most part. Or acted like she did." He muttered, scratching his arm, the blunt ends of his armored fingers not doing a good job at it "We didn't even know till the news broke out."

"Oh- that's…" Miruko's ears stood halfway up as if sensing something wrong. "She bottled it up, that's dangerous."

He paused, staring at her silently till he couldn't take it anymore. "...She told me that she was gonna 'finish what her sister started'."

Her ears stood up on end. "Wha- is she _trying _to get killed?"

"..." He looked away.

She rubbed her hand over her face, pulling it over her head, with a sigh. "Right. Right…" she breathed in slowly. "Do you know where she is?"

"Not yet, called Mei about it. She'll find a way to track her down." he was getting worried too, Hope that didn't show on his-

Miruko rubbed his shoulder. "Look, It'll be fine no need to get worried."

He flinched but enjoyed the contact. "I- I know I just can't help it"

* * *

"**M̺͋oth̭͐er, you̩̐ ha̩͡d a ̥͛cal̤̐l̛̻ ̘̐frȍ̱m fat̮͛her̲͑**"

"Huh? What?" Mei let her welder go, rolling her goggles off of her head, finally hearing the outside world again. "Zuku called?"

"**He ͍͞le̳̊fẗ̠ ̲̈́a ̦̄mes͇͑sa̛̼ge̹͛, ̣̕'I ̣̃n̲͝ee̺̐d̞̚ ̲̆a͗͟ ̺̅loca̰̍t̛̹i̱͛o̻̎n̛͉ o̳͛n̥̆ ̟͑Ȉ̥i͜͡da**'̗͊ **" **Mecha-Might relayed, some worry mixed into his voice. Somehow.

Mei's eyebrows rose the moment she heard the message. "That is… a weird request, I'll run a locator on her phone- call Izuku I need a phone number"

"**H͉̀er c̬͌onta͛ͅc̩̒t̺͋ was͕̓ ͙̋a͕̎ddè͉d ̘̀at̢͊ ̝̊ț̓he ̜͞m̙̃es͟͝s̺͂age͈̓** **" **Mei's phone pinged as Mecha-Might pulled up the message via his connection to it "**T̑͟his ạ͑ll ̡͒k͓̋e̝̓ep̬͗s ͙̅set̮͑tī͉n̜͆g ó̞f͋͢f̅ͅ ̌͜m̬̉y ̼͘wor̠̈́ry̢͠ ̙̊circuits̭̑.̝͐** **"**

Mei pulled out her phone, looking at the number before turning to her computer. "Mine too."

* * *

Inko stiffened at the new apartment she was in, her new home away from home, hugging her arms.

Toshiko was at her side before she noticed it. "What's wrong?"

"I- I think it's nothing but… I feel like something bad is going to happen." She shivered again.

Toshi laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, pulling her into a half hug. "You felt that too?"

"D-do you think something bad is going to happen to Izuku?"

"Midoriya, I'm sure he will be fine."

Inko couldn't help it and hugged the taller woman, weeping onto her chest, letting some of her worries out.

Toshiko flinched but returned the hug in a moment's notice, patting her back softly in calming circles.

* * *

"You- you can't mean that." Izuku gaped, looking at the tiny frame of Gran Torino.

"But I do." Gran shot back, her eyes firm and resolute as she shot him a glance. "We can't afford to lose the trail of Stain. Not with all the blood on her hands."

"That doesn't mean we can just use Iida as bait!" Izuku shot back, eye twitching.

"Runt. What **are** you all at that University training to become?" Gran hissed with finality.

Izuku froze.

"That's right. Sometimes this happens. Sometimes we are the bait." She clenched her fists against the table. "Sometimes we don't make it back home 'cause we were the bait."

_"__...͟Is̠-̡ is̭ sh͉e t̤a͕lki͓n̼g ͢a͖bo͙ut͜ ̗me?̲"_

"It was her choice to chase after Stain. But it was also her choice to contact you." She grumbled after her moment of anger. "Now, we know. And we can be there to aid in her little revenge plot. Besides, with the time we have left, our hands are tied, aren't they?"

Miruko grumbled. "I don't like team-ups, but… yeah. We could tell the association, and they would pump up the hero numbers at the location, Stain gets spooked we lose her trail."

"She changes M.O. and kills how many more heroes before we catch up again." Gran finished the thought.

"Even if they tried stopping the oversaturation of heroes there would be massive amounts of pro's that would try to get in to take down her, inflating the hero numbers…" she sighed. "I wouldn't even be surprised if the association leaks the info to some of the Heroes they prefer."

"Wait- there are internal politics like that on the-" Izuku scrunched up his nose. "Of course there are."

"The hero system isn't perfect runt, nothing is," Gran grumbled, clenching and unclenching her fist. "Now, we just need to head off to where she thinks the attacks going to happen."

"I should've asked-" He huffed. "She hasn't been answering her phone and I don't think Mei is going to-"

His helmet beeped and formed around his head as another call came through.

It was from Nozomi.

"Uh- answer call"

"They are in Hosu. Good luck. "

"Call ended"

His helmet retracted off his face as he blinked blankly. _Am I bugged, or is that just her quirk to be scary good at guessing? _

_"__Foc̙us I̯z͜uku̲" _

_Right, right._

He turned to the two heroes who were looking at him, one with confusion, and the other with grumpy indifference. "We have a location."

* * *

"Mei, can you at least not break international law in my presence?"

"What, you mean the whole 'phone tracking' thing?" She shrugged, ignoring Power Loader's hang-ups about the whole debacle. "It's at _most _governmental law, but then again they do it too, so…"

"So you think it's ok to get the government against the whole of UA 'cause they were hypocrites?" Power Loader huffed, scratching her helmet with her iron claws. "You think that's a good idea?"

"Nozomi hasn't stopped me yet." She shrugged, messing with her jury-rigged antenna, which was connected to her laptop, trying to hack into the service providers of Musfaratu.

"Right, carry on then."

* * *

Izuku groaned, rolling over in his bed one last time before giving up and staring at the unfamiliar ceiling of the dorm of the weird agency he had chosen.

"Can't sleep?" Miruko called out from her bed, groggily.

"Yeah, sorry" he whispered back, rubbing his eyes "Hope I didn't wake you up."

"You did but-" He heard something shuffle, and then the soft pats of her feet on the floor. Next moment he knew, she was sitting on the side of his bed, facing away from him. "I can't blame you." She mumbled.

In moonlight leaking through the window, her dark skin and white sleepwear looked downright ethereal. His body almost giving into carnal desires to touch her lower waist.

"It's not… easy having a friend be in the line of fire." she looked over her shoulder to the man on the bed, her hand patting him on the shoulder. "But I told you, everything is going to be fine. Cause I'm gonna kick everyone's ass there." She shot him a self-assured smirk.

He smiled in return. "Thanks, Miruko. I needed that."

"Call me Rumi."

He blinked, looking up to the hero who herself looked surprised she had actually said that, her face now highlighted by a slowly growing blush.

"G-goodnight Rumi…"

"Goodnight Izuku…" He could hear her blush in her tone. As she slowly got up and hopped back into her own bed.

After his heart calmed down, Izuku fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

Tomoyo looked at her phone, looking through all the messages Izuku had left during the day.

_I shouldn't have told him. He'll try to get in the way of it all._

She looked at the messages again

'Tomoyo don't be so harsh.'

'Where are you, do you know where Stain is going to strike?'

'You can't do it on your own.'

Her hand twitched and the screen of her phone went black.

_That traitor. He told me there was nothing wrong with talking with friends, yet all he wants is to stop me from doing what's right._

Part of her knew he only wanted to help, but she wasn't listening to that part.

She never wanted to listen to that part again, nor did she care enough about it.

She needed to do this. And nothing was going to get in her way.

* * *

"She has been more active today," Kurogiri noted next to a gaming Tsukiko.

"Must be the day she is going to attack." the leader of the League of Villains responded with a shrug, pausing her game and looking down from her perch on the rooftop at the hero killer darting in the alleyways. "How many did Master tell we would have access to?"

"Around six will be ready, I believe. Unless the good doctor made a breakthrough in his procedures."

"Meh, even if he does, no need for more than that, we just want to make chaos, and make the public think Stain is aligned with us"

"You are correct-"

"Besides, if we add too much, the heroes couldn't capture Stain."

"Beg your pardon?"

Tsukiko let out a dry chuckle and pocketed her handheld. "The chaos we are bringing, It'll attract the attention of pro's. Attention, that shit-stain hasn't dealt with before." Her face broke out in a manic grin. "Do you think that assassin wanna-be can make a clean escape in the hell we will unleash?"

"I see why Master has chosen you to lead."

"Besides, she is a loose end. If she is still free after this her actions can look against our ideals." her crimson eyes searched over the skyline of Hosu. "This is just a basic strategy game. Only instead of sacrificing a pawn…"

"We are sacrificing the opponent's."

* * *

"Could you please stop tapping your finger?" Miruko asked her ears twitching violently as Izuku tapped his fingers against his knee one too many times.

"S-sorry I just…" he clapped his hand over his knee. "Worried."

"No need to worry about anything right now." She grunted, crossing her arms under her bust "we are on our way, nothing bad is going to happen."

It was kind of surreal, riding the bullet train in the Granclass with Miruko across from him. The pro shooting unimpressed glances at the other passengers in the car that kept any fans away.

He had taken the gauntlets off, laying them on the seat next to his, across from Gran and had kept his helmet on, the metal cacoon keeping his identity under wraps.

Honestly, he would've thought it would've been uncomfortable by now, but he was pleasantly surprised that Mei had added internal padding that was keeping him comfy.

"Besides, Hero killer always waited until night time to attack, she wouldn't change that right now," Gran offered, messing with her seat's controls with one hand, stretching its leg-rest. "And you said this 'Mei' could lock onto Iida before then?"

"She sent a message about it, yes," Izuku muttered as his HUD pulled up the message again.

'I'm in the system, triangulation should be done before six, sorry it's taking so long she keeps turning her phone off. Had to figure out how to turn it on remotely.'

"I trust she can make that in time." he sighed, laying his head against his seat. "Just-"

"Yes worried, we know." Miruko smirked empathetically "I'll race you to her position when we have it."

Izuku smiled softly, the eyes of his mask adjusting to look more content. "Fine, you are on."

* * *

Eiji grumbled as she shut down her computer, the HD picture of shirtless Izuku disappearing as her screen went dark. That rat bitch had done her work to keep the man's internship location a secret. It was infuriating to say the least.

Shoko so far had proved to be an… adequate intern. She was using her fire willingly, but all of Eiji's plans for the girl had gone by the wayside as soon as she had seen Izuku.

The flame heroine stood up with a huff. If she couldn't have Izuku…

Her eyes caught the news report on her television where details of the Hero Killer's crime spree were being discussed by pundits. She huffed, pulling out the file she had on the villain, there was a chance she was going to strike today. And if her research was correct on the pattern. It was going to be...

_Might as well do _**_something_**_with this waste of a week._

She pressed the intercom button. "Suit up, everyone. We're going to Hosu."

* * *

"Did Mei come in with a location yet?" Miruko questioned as the weird trio continued their aimless patrol of the streets, Hosu was getting livelier by the minute as dusk hit the sky faster than it had any right to.

"No, not yet." Izuku huffed, getting restless. "Is it just me or… is it really tense here?"

"Oh, that might be because we know Stain is here… but yeah, I feel it too." Miruko looked around. "Like something big is going to happen."

The streetlights and the storefronts around them flickered.

"Connection lost, reconnecting through quantum comms. "

"Uh-" he looked at Miruko and Gran "did you two lose phone signal too?"

"What does that have to do anything runt?" Gran asked but still pulled out her phone. "Yeah."

"Same here-" Miruko clicked her phone back to its compartment on the metal plate around her waist, looking around expecting something to happen.

"Connection re-established "

"Those MOTHER FUCKERS. " Mei's voice blared in his helmet, making Izuku try to grab his ears in reflex, only making him slam his gauntlets on the sides of the metal frame around his head.

"Jesus- Mei what's going on?" Izuku hissed, shaking his head a little.

"Almost had an exact location of Iida's phone, but her and you just got swallowed up by a giant blindspot in coverage ." She hissed over the other side " All radio waves are blocked, even the satellite connection your helmet had was cut. You are lucky I managed to make that quantum communicator with Momo's help. " Her voice grew more fragile by the end.

Izuku shuddered, remembering how she couldn't contact him at the USJ. "Another blind spot? How big?"

"I t's gigantic, like a circle with an eight-block radius. But that's not that important, I have an approximation of Iida's location. Though it's still a three-block circle- you got any idea how to narrow that? "

Izuku paused looking around again, seeing Miruko and Gran watching around too. "Look for any alleyways near Hero patrol routes, away from the public, fast. Something big is going to happen."

He could hear Mei typing away on her side. " You are lucky Power Loader let me have this free hour right now, how else were you going to find her? "

"Guess random alleyways for hours I suppose- you got one?"

"She might have moved by now but yeah, I got one that fits the parameters. Near where I got the last signal. " His helmet pinged, a map appearing with the POI. " Currently the suit can only track you through landmarks, since GPS is down due to that bullshit blindspot, so look around when you get lost. "

"Thank you, Mei, couldn't do it without you."

"I know, now go do whatever you gotta do. "

"Call ended. "

"Got a location, not that far from here- we should rush." Izuku turned at the other two pro's.

They nodded, turning to follow him.

An explosion rocked the street. Setting car alarms off.

All three were at high alert.

"A terrorist attack?" Miruko questioned shooting a glance at the source, smoke billowing in the distance.

Another explosion shook the streets. This time to their right. Followed by an inhuman roar.

Izuku froze in his spot.

"What was that?" Gran shot a glance towards the sound.

"Th-that sounds like the monster that attacked us at USJ."

"What? I thought that thing was killed!" Miruko shot back.

"I- I killed it but, if there were multiple explosions…" Izuku gulped.

The air grew dark as the smoke started to rise, Tension growing heavier as the three looked around.

Another screech responded to the first one, then two more echoed.

"There is more than one."

* * *

Stain widened her stance as the street shook, shooting a curious glance at the entrance to the alleyway. The night was getting loud and she had already been foiled in one instance.

She looked down at the paralyzed Ingenium clone. Still ranting about killing her, how she hurt her hero, her sister, and had to die for it.

_Unheroic._

She hooked the blunt side of her blade under her helmet tugging the metal bit off to reveal the face of the fake.

She kicked the girl over onto her back, glaring at her from up above. She was just a kid. Eighteen at most. Looking up at her with spite and hatred.

_Unheroic._

"You and your sister were both weak," she hissed, stepping on the fakes wounded shoulder, making her hiss with pain. "You were weak cause you both were fakes."

"Shut up! Who cares what you think?! You are nothing more than a murderer and a villain!"

"And you are the hero that didn't even attempt to save a comrade after she was attacked. Losing to your own hatred before doing your mission." She stepped harder against her wounded shoulder, making her cry out in pain. "You are the rotting byproduct of this system."

She raised her blade, pointing its tip down towards her neck. Enough force and her spine would be severed before even the pain of her neck getting pierced would make it to her brain.

"And I'm doing my civic duty to cut the rot out."

She plunged her blade down.


	54. Now once put your life on the line

Time seemed to slow down, the street losing its color as the blade started its journey down.

A part of her had accepted the fate, or even wanted it. Stain would be ending her ruined life without the shining light that was her sister. She hated everything and everyone that led her to this moment: killed in an alleyway by the same woman that had ended her sister's career.

Part of her wanted to wake up from this dream, to see the hero killer on the ground where she belonged, defeated at her feet.

Part of her wanted to live. To be saved. For anyone to show up and save her life before it was taken from her. For a moment, she imagined her sister running up and kicking Stain off her.

The phone call she had with Izuku flashed through her mind.

The blade was closing in, the tip shining hungrily.

Her eyes snapped closed, her nerves getting the better of her as she couldn't handle watching her own murder.

In a moment of pure desperation, as her brain's primal urge to preserve her own life took control, she screamed out his name.

Metal clashed against metal.

She opened an eye, her vision, blurry from tears, finally focused on the sight above her.

A green gauntlet was looming over her, a hand gripped around the blade, stopping the katana inches above its target.

Stain's eyes were wide with both rage and disbelief.

The digital eyes on Izuku's helmet were blazing, filled with righteous indignation and cold fury. "I heard you calling, Iida."

" Pneumatic Lance " His gauntlet hummed as the guard over his wrist hissed, and the pneumatic hammer shot out with the force to crush a car. The massive plates that made up the tip of the hammer caught the spine of the Katana, punching through the metal like a hole-puncher through paper.

"It's fine now."

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the remains of the blade behind him, embedding the ruined steel into the wall as Stain snarled and jumped back to gain distance.

"**Because I am here**."

* * *

"Did he seriously just rush away?!" Gran screeched as she landed another kick to the exposed brain of a lanky, light grey monstrosity, making the beast hiss and track the zipping oldtimer, instead of the much bigger target closing in.

Miruko's eyes shined red with sadistic glee as she blurred into existence in front of the beast, a sonic boom alerting the horror of human musculature and agony a second too late. "We don't need him anyway!" she almost giggled, as she unleashed her kick, happy to be able to go all out for once.

Her kick landed square on the stomach of the beast, the muscles and internal organs unable resist the concussive force, rippling and parting like water, until her steel-tipped boot crashed against the spine of the beast directly, shattering it under the massive power each of her thighs held.

"Plus, considering the amount of chaos going on in this whole city, he might have done the right thing by rushing to the location."

"You think we would've been late?" Gran snickered, watching the beast attempt to get back up, healing slowly as its chest heaved, attempting to reconnect its legs back to its nervous system.

"More or less." She shrugged, stomping down on the head of the beast, its whole body going limp as its brain turned into red paste. "Ugh, that's gonna be tough to clean up."

"You sound certain he's going to be able to help instead of just becoming another victim to the Hero Killer," Gran smirked, cracking her neck. "Are you that smitten with the kid that you believe that he's that competent?"

Miruko scoffed, placing a hand on her hip. "Ok drop the act, you saw how much he improved in a day." Her eyes squinted at the older pro "Why are you doubting him so much?"

Gran looked away. Not willing to answer that.

Neither noticed the Noumu start to lumber up, its head starting to reform.

It didn't have a chance to counterattack before a column of flame engulfed the elongated humanoid form, the monster screeching in pain and perishing as attempting to regenerate from the damage sapped the last of its energy reserves. It crumbled to dust as its cells lost their ability to split and replace what was lost.

"Miruko- and…" Eiji trailed off, looking at Gran, not recognizing the pro. "Honored elder. You two are unneeded, I have this covered."

"_ Endeavor _," the Rabbit Hero hissed. "What brings you to Hosu?"

"My gut told me Stain would be here," the heroine scoffed. "What about you, Miss 'I-don't-team-up'?" Her face darkened, flames on her shoulders glowing a weird crimson instead of their proud orange. "Who is this 'him' you were talking about."

Miruko sneered. "You must be hearing things in your old age."

Gran snorted from the side, causing the flames on Eiji's shoulders to flare again.

"If you know anything about…" Eiji took a moment to suppress her anticipation. "...a certain _man _. It would be in your best interest to inform me."

Miruko cocked her hip. "And which man would that be?"

"You know damn well." Eiji crossed her arms under her bust, pushing it up and smiling cruelly at Miruko. "In a dangerous situation like this, it would be best for someone such as myself to…" She licked her lips, unintentionally allowing her flames to turn to crimson once again. "_ Take care of him."_

Miruko fought back a shiver. "You would like that wouldn't you _number two. _"

Eiji flinched, the crimson flames turning blue as they burst with anger. "You are talking too much for your rank _six _."

"Ooo, the first fiery thing you said since you got here," Miruko smirked back, eyes shining with gleeful hunger. "How about we make a deal,_ number two _." Gran took a step away as the two powerhouses got closer, Miruko not even flinching at the immense heat Endeavor was generating and Endeavor not minding the street shuddering with each step from Miruko. "The one that gets the most kills gets to know where this _man _is."

Eiji's eyes flashed with recognition, then malice. "So you _do _know where he is." She took stock of the situation, deciding against just beating up a capable hero for information in this instant.

She wasn't even sure she could win against Miruko anyway.

"Deal."

"Good call. Try and keep up!" The bunny was gone from sight before the flaming heroine could respond. "And no more kill stealing!"

Gran rubbed her face. "Fucking youngsters."

* * *

Izuku breathed out and took stock of the situation.

The Hero killer was taller than he had imagined, even slouching she was at eye-level with him. Her torso had four sheaths on her waist, making her silhouette look more masculine with the loss of her curves, honestly, the only thing hinting at her true gender was the subtle hint of a bust under her, what looked to be bullet-proof, vest. His eyes shot back up to her face. Ignoring her billowing scarf on her neck and..._ a bandana with eyeholes over her eyes? Where is her nose? _

_Does she not have a nose? How did no one take note of her not having a nose?_

_"Ser̠iou͕sly̙? You̪'re ̫w̠orr͔y͓i̯n̯g ̤a͚b̺ǫu̥t̨ t͈h͇a̘t̞?"_

_Look, it's bothering me._

He took notice of her large shoulders and lanky arms, wrapped up to her biceps with bandages. Loose baggy pants hid her thighs, making him unsure of how much power she really packed in kicks. If her spiked boots were anything to go by she had enough to be wary of.

_She is literally armed head to toe- _he hissed taking note of all the knives and swords strapped onto her body.

He had destroyed one of her swords, but from the looks of it, she had enough to arm a small army. She was proving that he hadn't even slowed her down by slowly unsheathing another sword as she glared at him.

"You sure you want to get involved?" she grunted, sneaking a look at the other hero behind her.

_"She's gonna kill her if you don't move." _

"If we were to clash the weaker would get culled."

Tomoyo gave a weak sob, trying to find words to object. To do something to get Izuku to leave and be safe. To avenge her sister herself.

Izuku couldn't see her struggle, his eyes only growing more determined after the threat. "A hero's job is to get involved."

Stain's grim expression turned into a manic smile.

"Besides, 'Send location to all contacts.'"

Stain froze for a second, eyes him incredulously.

Izuku just needed that second and his helmet pinging with confirmation was just an upside as he closed the gap, forcing Stain to retreat away from the paralyzed hero slumped against the wall.

"Status report!"

"She-" Tomoyo clenched her eyes shut, voice finally working again. "She stabbed me in the shoulder and I lost all control of my body. I can't move anything."

Izuku's eyes landed on the swords against the body of the villain. _They aren't connected to her body- nor do they look generated by her._

_"Yo͚u̜ ca̩n'͕t̻ ̪be̤ su̻rę ̱ab̟out̟ ̣t̝hat" _

_You're right, I can't. So it doesn't change the fact that I need to stay away from those blades. _

_"G̢o̻od ̢thing ̪yo̺u hav̹e… ̮y͚our͈ ͖s̯k̫i͈n̦-tig̜h͕t s̺ui͎t̹."̞ _He could feel Nana go 'hmm'. _"Yeah,͔ ͢m̱i̝s̯takes ͈we͟r̢e͚ ̥mad͕e.͎" _

_Not helping._

He widened his stance, letting 5% of One for All channel through his muscles, lightning wrapping around his body almost protectively as he stared down the villain. "Are you going to attack or are you just planning to stare?"

"Taunting to get under my skin… to anger me and make me reckless." Stain's smile widened, her eyes glowing with praise. "I thought you were just hot air from the fakes at the top. But you are the real deal aren't you?"

Izuku raised his fists. This conversation didn't matter, but playing along would get her to lower her defenses. "What do you mean?"

"A true hero, just like _All Might _." She said her name with the reverence of a zealot to a god. "It would be a shame to kill you. But my destiny is to cull the fakes that corrupt this society. And if you decide to stand between me and my destiny…" She raised a sword and pointed at him. "I will cut you down along with the rot. True hero or not, Midoriya Izuku."

His whole body tensed up at the statement. "You think this is destiny? You think your murder of innocents was preordained?" His gauntlets screeching with the sound of grinding metal as he forced his hands to make a tighter fist. "You think this is a noble cause?"

"None of them were innocent!" Stain spat back. "And you know it! Everyone does!" Her other hand reached out and grabbed a knife from her torso, unsheathing it slowly. "And I'm the only one that's going to act on it."

His whole body shuddered at the statement, muscles aching from being held back. His whole body wanted to strike, to act out on the falsehoods she was spouting. Her crimson eyes glaring with firm belief only made it worse.

This wasn't like the villains from USJ, Stain wasn't a simple agent of chaos only yearning for destruction and murder.

She had an ideology to sell, one she was ready to die for.

"You got nothing to dispute that?" She sneered, dragging her leg back ready to lash out at him. "Or did the realization silence you?"

He didn't respond. But if his mask was still working properly, he wouldn't need to.

Stain kicked off the ground, katana and knife pulled back to strike.

* * *

"Oh, you are fucking lucky I love you," Mei hissed, tapping away at her computer after she got the command to share his location with everyone. "There." She smiled as her own phone pinged too, the map displaying where Izuku was supposed to be, according to the last readout from his helmet.

"Hope that's gonna be useful."

* * *

Ochako's phone pinged with the tune she had set Izuku for, getting her attention away from her opponent for just a second, giving her an opening.

The next moment she was on the floor with cuffs on, the Gunhead dojo clapping the winner of the round.

"Uraraka-san your attention was all over the place that round, everything alright?" Gunhead asked, crouching in front of her with worry in her voice.

"Uh- yeah, just got an important message I think," she chirped, getting off the floor the moment her opponent let go. "Can I check it?"

"Yeah sure, is it an emergency?" Gunhead tilted her head. "We were just about to end training for today anyway…"

Ochako saw the message from Izuku 'need assistance' with a location attached. _Oh no… _

"Y-yeah It's-" She clicked on the map, generating a route to Hosu. _Wait, seriously five hours with- Oh it didn't factor in the train… Wait the bullet train is down? _"It's… It might be important but I can't get to it in time."

"Oh- is everything going to be all right?"

She hummed for a second and attempted to call Izuku, only for the call to fail. "...It… should be fine."

She could only hope someone else could help with whatever it was.

* * *

_He is fast, _Stain noted as Izuku closed the gap between them in an instant, fist cocked and ready to punch.

And if the tournament footage was real, that punch would end the fight in an instant.

She jumped back, letting his fist slam against the ground, creating a crater where she was going to be if she hadn't stopped her own attack.

The sole reason she even had the leeway to dodge unscratched was due to the hesitation behind his punch. He didn't want to turn her into a red paste.

That was his only mistake.

"You've gotten faster since the tournament," she hissed. "Or is this what having support gear does for you?"

"Support gear has nothing to do with this," he spat back, pulling his arm back from the crater with little issue. "I can't let you get past me, so I'll surpass what I used to be." The glitchy eyes on his mask widened as he pulled his fists back up. "I'll stop you once and for all Hero Killer."

"Oh?" Stain smiled. "But you already failed." She licked the knife she had pulled out previously.

"What are you-" He flinched, his brain blaring with alarm as it lost contact with his muscles. The powerful cells were stuck in their last position, locked in place as if rigor mortis had set in.

He remained there, standing but unable to move as Stain relaxed and started walking towards him. "You think I cut down all that had stood between me and destiny without being at least this skilled?" She pushed against his head, causing his balance to fail him as he slammed down on the floor, face down, still keeping his pose. Stain chuckled "Curious, normally people affected by my quirk go limp. You must be real special keeping your pose... not that it matters."

She took the steps over to Tomoyo, raising her blade again. "Dread it, run from it. Destiny comes. And this time, it won't be hindered."

* * *

Miruko stomped down on the concrete, the explosion of air pressure blocking the Incoming torrent of flame from a black Noumu.

She shuddered as she made visual contact with the beast again. It's 'head' was just an exposed brain stuck inside a jaw bone, visible tendons holding the bone in place as it took a strong step forward from the inferno it had generated around itself. Casting eerie and demonic shadows along its muscular frame.

After the initial disgust passed it wasn't really that terrifying of a creature to look at if she were to be honest. But that didn't change the fact that it looked like a car-crash victim.

_No time for sympathy. Whatever these things are, I gotta fight or die._

The heroine disappeared in an instant, leaving a fresh crater in her wake as she moved faster than the Noumu could track. Her foot connected with the monster's ribcage with a sickening crunch, the beast howling in agony.

Miruko felt just a twinge of horror as the Noumu seemed to shake off the blow and immediately direct a torrent of flame toward her. She twisted her body out of the way, smelling just the hint of burning hair as she watched the ends of her silvery hair singe.

"Oh now you've done it," she snarled, pushing her body to move faster, hit harder. Several successive kicks to the Noumu's legs managed to hobble it. Not as fast as she'd have liked, but with every attack she had to retreat immediately after to avoid getting burned alive. With the monster limping, Miruko felt her battle frenzy begin to heighten. Her eyes scanned over the monster's form as it seemed to continue to move in spite of the obvious pain it should be in.

_This thing can't be human._

The only point of weakness she could see was the…

_...I swear if anything sticky gets on me I'm going to scream. _

Miruko dodged another blast of flame, ducking around and moving in for what she hoped to be the finishing blow. She got in close, letting the Noumu attempt to crush her before pushing herself high off the ground and over the monster's head. She prayed the building she was rocketing toward was study as she turned herself in mid-air and planted her feet down. With a powerful shove, she was moving as fast as she could, twisting again to bring herself down foot first, her steel-capped boots driving down faster than the blink of an eye into the Noumu's brain.

The wet crunch of a skull being crushed against concrete was drowned out by the shockwave of Miruko's landing. She quickly removed her feet from the messy crater and shook them off, trying to get everything off. Only for her to feel the blood and grey matter stick on the ground in her next steps, causing a shiver to run up her body.

_I hate it- I hate it! I HATE IT!_

She shook off her disgust, watching if the gory mess she had created wanted to get back up for another round. It didn't.

_That's one down. _The heroine turned in the direction of more howls and swallowed the feeling of unease as she continued on into the chaos of the city. _Now for the rest. _

* * *

Izuku was having the same nightmare as USJ again. Unable to move in his own body as a villain murders his friends. _Cmon. Move. I- I need to move! _

He whined, fighting his muscles, trying to get them to at least budge. Nothing worked.

He knew what was wrong. Stains quirk had locked all skeletal muscle tissue he had, keeping him frozen in place.

_"S̗h͚e is͟ ̯goin͚g͓ ͖t̟o ̡ki̦l̮l̹ ̪h̻e̫r̪! ̨Do som̨et̘h̹ing̰!" _

_I AM TRYING! NOTHING'S WORKING I CAN'T MOVE A FI-_

_Finger…_

He looked at his left gauntlet, he had fallen straight on it, on a weird angle. If the lance shot out right now…

His helmet activated by reading the action potential of his nerves, not tensed muscle tissue. He could only hope the gauntlet had been retrofitted to do the same.

* * *

Stain looked down, licking her lips. As she plunged the blade down. Already satisfied with a job well do-

" Pneumatic Lance. "

Stain's body screamed for her to move just before the 350 kilograms of Izuku crashed onto her back, causing her to sprawl over the floor.

She shook off the shock, coughing and slowly sauntering back up. "You. You're still fighting?" She fought back a smile. "You, really are a hero, aren't you? Fighting to your last." Her eyes darkened as she collected her blade from where it had been flung to after his impact. "You have my respect, Midoriya. When I'm done, society will prosper. I hope they remember you."

Izuku looked up to the blade with disdain yet no fear. His whole body was frozen, he couldn't even say something even if he wanted to. He only hoped that was enough time for-

The street shook as an explosion rampaged through, knocking Stain off him and into a wall.

Katsumi's gauntlet clicked as another chamber spun into position, the blonde smiling while panting, happy to have made it on time.

"Get the fuck away from him, you bitch."


	55. Share with me your tears

_Ok, Katsumi. You flew two provinces over for this. _She panted, calming her nerves. _Don't blow a fuse now. You need every bit of information you can get if you are going to help._

_Glasses is down on the ground and hasn't even twitched in reaction to the explosion. Izuku is frozen in place holding his position, and- Is that goddamn Native? _She let out another breath, eyes locking back onto the wall she had knocked Stain into. _At least their chests are moving. No one is dead..._

_Focus, dammit. No one has moved, yet they are all alive and breathing. _She smirked. _Paralytic quirk. Fuck. _

_What's the activation parameters… _Her eyes darted onto the two on the floor than Izuku. _Blood is everywhere… but Izuku isn't bleeding at all. _

_Two options. Either the size of the cut doesn't matter. Or She can paralyze from something else- Only way to confirm…_

She looked at Izuku one last time, noticing the small nick on his suit by his right bicep.

_That plus all the blades and the spikes on her boots… it has to be cuts. Need to keep my distance. _

The rubble twitched and Stain slowly rose after five seconds of downtime. But those 5 seconds were all that Katsumi needed.

"You're lucky as fuck, Deku. Best Jeanist's agency was heading this way to help out with the Noumu attack anyway. " She rolled her shoulders as Stain started getting up. "Gave them the location and rushed in."

Her hands crackled. "And I've built up a lot of sweat already."

"_ You, _" Stain hissed. "Winner of the sports festival. Bakugou Katsumi." Her face darkened "Yet another fake, throwing around your strength with no thought of consequence, no care for anyone or anything other than victory."

"Bakugou, get out of here. This isn't your fight!" Tomoyo screamed, gritting her teeth.

"It's Ground Zero while I'm wearing the suit, Glasses," she spat, rolling her other shoulder. "And so what If I'm doing it to win?" She flipped Stain off. "If I win, then they're saved."

Stain growled and charged forward.

* * *

_Pfft. Hahahahaha- _Izuku chuckled in his head, body aching with its inability to move. _You really are ready to play into the role, aren't you, Kacchan?_

_"Ok̜, ̳s̝h̗u̟t u̟p ̥l͢o͔verb̟o͙y͉, ̫w̖e n͈e̥e̡d ̼y̰ou ͓t̥o ͉ge̳t̤ ̼movin̪g̥ ̜ag̳a͉i̪n̯.̤ ̬A̧ny Ide͔as̱?̥"̡_

_I've been trying everything I could. It's not a neural block. My actual muscles are frozen. Best guess is her quirk blocks the skeletal muscle cells from contracting._

_"That…̝ m̮ak͎eͅs̼ ͓some̫ ͔s̭e̝nse- ̬but̠ wͅhy̙ a̤re̼ y͜ou̬ ̹s̙t͈uc̗k l̢i͎k̩e̟ t̥his?̬"_

He would've shrugged if he could. But the thought of it was enough for Nana. _My best guess? It's One for All's power output. Unguided, it's keeping its form and shape, trapping me in this position._

_"S̱o…̗ ̠in͕ ̯th̜eory̬ ͕y̱ou ̡cou͍ld̬ m̢ov̮e u̘si̳ng ̯j͎u͟s̬t ̻One̥ for ͖All̡?"̬_

_...It molds to my intent. But I would need time to even attempt something like that. _

Explosions shook the street as Katsumi retaliated, neither combatant gaining any ground.

_"S̜h̳e ͈f͙le͓w͟ i̭n f͙r̡om̹ ͎Go͜d-ḵn̯o̝w̱s̹-w̝h̜e͜re ͓usin̥g ͔her̟ q̼u̫ir͙k- do y̱ou̟ ̞th͕ink ̲s̳h͓e̗ ca͚ņ keep ͈thiṣ u͙p͟?̟"_

_Yes… for maybe another two minutes or so at my best guess. She is using too much stamina to try and bridge the gap between their levels of experience._

He huffed, closing his eyes and concentrating. He hadn't used the lightning One for All generated for anything other than transferring thought and even then it was more of a byproduct than anything concrete.

Now he had two minutes to make it move his body with intention.

_Do-or-die time._

_"W̗ith̢ ͖y͟o͇u,͉ i͓t's̠ ̭do͢-o̥r-̝di͚e tim̦e ͓**e͚ve͎r̠y̠ ͔**ti̟m͜e̞,̥ __" _Nana smirked. _"Th͖en a̡ga̝i̫n͈, ͢no̜t͎h͢ing̪ ̪sc̘re͉ams̯ '̢Pl̦u̪ş ͅU̬ltr̼a'͔ ̥more͙ t̳han t̙h̯a̮t̬,̘ d̬o͚e̩s ̫i͎ṯ?̗"̦_

**_Right._**

* * *

_Control group was just this one and the previous one… _Endeavor hissed in her head, blocking another strike from the creature, her shoes melting through the concrete as she was pushed back a little. _But every time I strike them they regenerate…_

_Quirks are cellular processes, they all need to have limits…_

_Destroy every cell and it can't regenerate…_

She smirked, pulling her hands up and pooling all the heat she could generate into her open palms. Her mouth slowly turned into a smirk as her hands burst aflame, red embers rising up to the sky, rapidly turning orange, yellow, white, until the flames burst into the color of the clear sky, the air around her rapidly heating up and rising, generating the telltale sound of a jet engine whirring to life.

"Human bones turn to ash if a fire burns over 1,800 Kelvin. A fire turns sky-blue when it reaches 10,000 Kelvin," she announced with no small amount of pride in her voice. _"Enjoy this, nearly five times the required amount… It should suffice as an adequate goodbye present."_

She straightened her hand and thrust forward as if it was a blade, the force behind her muscles and the pure heat from her hand allowing her fingers to pierce the beast's skin.

"**Infernal Combustion.**"

She didn't get to finish her attacks name as the flames on her fingers spread. The monstrosity's own fatty tissue turned against it, catching fire like kindling and spreading the hungry flames rapidly just under its skin.

Its blood boiled and Eiji could hear the internal organs sizzle and cook and the bones crackling like logs on a fire. In an instant the flames dissipated, running out of fuel. The only hint a Noumu had even been standing there was the two black spots where its feet had once stood, not even the ash surviving the intense flames.

Endeavor allowed the flames in her hands to cool, then fade out completely. "One down."

* * *

Tomoyo's chest tightened as yet another classmate fought against the menace, fighting for her life.

Her target.

The one she had to take down for her sister.

Her internal turmoil reached new heights as the green lightning surrounding Izuku flared up as his body finally went limp, striking against the asphalt they were both on. Even down he was _still _trying to be a hero, trying to get back up and end this.

She hated it. She hated that he was still trying when it was _her _target. She hated that she couldn't do it. Her own body was unwilling to move, trapping her on the ground where Stain had left her.

Most of all she hated that she wasn't able to help. Wasn't able to be something her sister could be proud of. She was just another victim.

It infuriated her, filling her with more rage than she could handle, making her see red instead of the gentle blues of the night sky.

Then suddenly, everything snapped, a dark calm washing over her as her psyche went through a shift. There was no need for explosive anger, that was the reason she was in this position.

She needed to be calm. Silent. She needed to keep her head steady if she wanted Stain to pay.

There was no way Stain's quirk was permanent. If It was she would've already left, leaving her paralyzed for life like her sister. Perhaps her growing viciousness was due to an inherent time limit.

She just needed to bide her time; She could trust Katsumi with holding Stain back until her time came.

_Until then… _her eyes focused on the fight, tracking it best she could as Katsumi kept striking then retreating, too fast for Stain to get a cut in.

It was her job to put this monster down and if she was going to do that; she needed to know how Stain functioned. She needed to analyze her moves the best she could.

So she could end this nightmare once and for all.

* * *

It looked like a nightmare in the center of Hosu, Pro heroes trying and failing to put a massive Noumu to rest. The beast was almost double the size of the last one she had taken care of, its muscle-bound arms easily lifting the parked cars around and tossing it to the joint effort by the pros in the area.

Worst of all was the lighting the creature seemed to command, two spikes on its back generating small bolts of electricity arcing between each protrusion. And as if to confirm her worries, it threw a punch a bolt arcing between the one from its shoulders to a spike on its elbow a colossal torrent of electricity bursting forth and almost electrocuting one of the heroes, if not for another crashing into her, tossing both out of the way.

Miruko hissed. There was a good chance that the beast's whole body was charged electrically, that was probably why everyone was giving it a wide berth.

_I need to take this down before more heroes get tired out trying to kill it- there is more to take care of…_

Her crimson eyes landed on an electrical pole, ripped from the ground along with its cables. Both ends of the conductive wire swinging in the wind.

_… That might just work._

* * *

Katsumi was playing it fast and aggressive. She had to. If she was right, then any cut or nick from the spikes or the sword would spell the end of the fight. She flared her hands, sending waves of explosions that rippled and filled the alley, keeping Stain back several feet. She dodged a throwing knife as it came her way, blasting it not the side, but under the blade to change its trajectory. Her interference sent the balde wide, careening further down the alley as Stain swung in with the katana, trying to get closer.

Katsumi's teeth clacked together as she let out a growl "You think you are so smart lanky-fuck? Like one measly knife is gonna break my focus."

As the tip of the sword swung in at her, a flare of light and heat from her feet sent her skidding backwards, even as a wave of her hand sent another shockwave after the vigilante, who was just a bit too slow. The light and flame caught the noseless fuck in the face, making her scream in pain. Sadly it wasn't enough, and singed and far angrier Stain surged after Katsumi like a hurricane of blades and spikes.

She cursed loudly and with a flare of explosions, the two were blown apart once more. Katsumi rolled and crouched as she flexed her aching wrists, her eyes catching the limp form of Izuku. Sparks flared and shifted across his skin, but she quickly refocused on the fight.

_Goddamn fucking…. I'm on a time limit. I hope to god you got something going on, Deku!_

* * *

_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! _Manual screamed in her head. _THIS IS HOSU, NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE!_

She dodged out of the way as nightmare-demon looking _thing _tossed another car at her. _A FUCKING CAR?!_

_I DIDN'T PREPARE FOR THIS! I'M HERE FOR PETTY PURSE SNATCHERS, NOT _**_THIS_ **_!_

Someone kicked the car clean in half, the metal thundering as it crunched up and then sheared apart. _WHAT THE SHI- _

It was Miruko, her white hair billowing in the gusts of wind the monster created with each attack.

_WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE COME FRO-_

In an instant, she vanished from where she was just standing, appearing on top of a pole embedded in the concrete near the monster as a sonic boom shook the street.

"Watch out! It's electrically-" The other Pro couldn't finish her sentence as Miruko blurred with speed again, delivering a devastating axe-kick to the exposed brain of the monster. It reeled back, its wild eyes landing on the hero with primal rage none at the scene could process yet alone comprehend. It released a roar, staggering up to its feet and lunging at the heroine, lightning bursting through the creature and striking the hero.

For a moment, all stood still as the lightning struck, jagged lines of white illuminating the scene of the inferno, casting even the flames in shadows before the torrent of electricity ended.

Manual held in a breath, her chest refusing to let go of air as she waited for Miruko to fall over and choke up smoke. That amount of raw electricity would surely have cooked anyone from inside out.

Even the monster seemed to be waiting, only the crackling of the fire and the thundering buzz of the occasional arc between the spikes on its back audible in the night.

Suddenly Miruko was gone again, the crater in her spot still bursting with small pieces of debris before another massive sound echoed in the city square, this time of flesh tearing and metal striking against concrete.

Miruko was standing tall on a section of an electrical pole, the jagged tip forced through the monster's head and the road, pinning it into the ground. It struggled weakly, clawing at the pole with its hands, electricity striking it but not even making the rabbit hero standing atop the pole flinch.

That's when they noticed the exposed cable on her, connected to the pole she had impaled on her first arrival.

"Listen up weaklings!" she shouted from her perch. "Electricity passes through the most conductive medium at all times, remember that next time you deal with anything with electrical powers."

After that impromptu science lesson, she was gone, impaling the pole further into the concrete as she hopped off it and as the creature finally perished from the blood loss.

Manual blinked as her brain finally caught up with everything that had happened in the last minute and a half.

_WHAT THE FUCK _**_IS_ **_MY JOB!?_

* * *

When Bonfire signed up to be a sidekick under Endeavor's agency, she hadn't imagined that she would find herself playing babysitter to her daughter.

Honestly, she was kind of weirded out by just how stoic said daughter was, casually freezing the fires the Noumu attack was spawning as her mother had gone off to take care of the bigger fights. But that scar around her eye…

"Uh- Snowflame… how did you get that sc- nevermind it's probably too personal to ask, I'm sorry…"

The younger hero's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she turned away slightly, hiding the scar from Bonfire's view, as her other hand rushed up to her face.

_Ah dammit, I made her self conscious… _

Shoko inhaled to say something but the sound of her phone going off caused her to freeze, dropping her left hand from her face and using it to retrieve her phone from one of the many pouches on her belt.

For the first time since Bonfire was assigned her, Todoroki Shoko's expression changed to one of fear as her eyes widened looking at the screen, the intern suddenly shoving the device back in her pocket as she sprinted off in a random direction.

The sidekick blinked, the situation slowly clicking into place.

She started sprinting behind the rapidly receding back of Shoko.

"HEY GET BACK HERE! IT'S DANGEROUS!"

* * *

_Ok, this isn't working._

_"Givin̺g̙ up̰ a̦l͢re̳ady?͍"̟_

_No, changing tactics, _he muttered, going through the options. _I could mess with my veins and attempt to use hydraulic pressure to move around…_

_"Yo͢u'd ̱bu̩rs͕t e̬very vei̘n̟ ̭ỵo̢u hąv̺e b̯e͍for̝e ̝th̯at̞ ͍wo̢r̥k̬s." _Nana immediately shut him down with a shake of her head. _"Any̮ idea͖s ̖that̢ wǫn̙'͟t̼ c̲aus̻e ͖c̱at͍a͉stro̧p̫h̲ic͉ d̯amag̞ę to ̠y̤our̠ ̢bod̠y̧?" ͟_

_Wait it out is the only other option, but I don't have any sign of how long I would need to- _

His train of thought screeched to a halt as his brain was assaulted by the alarms of his muscles reactivating with a sudden twitch that cascaded through his body.

_W-wha-?! Nana did you do something?_

_"No̮?̢ ͈Y͕ou thi͕nk ṱh͖ę ̝q͢ui̤rk̤ ͇t̟ime̠d̙ ̮out?̪"_

He silently turned his head towards the fight, watching Katsumi use her explosions to knock the daggers Stain threw towards her, causing the villain to stumble back in the process.

_...It has to be the blood type or gender that determines the duration. If it was anything else, she would be worrying about it timing out. She's assuming I'm still paralyzed._

_"ThaŢ ͍D͜OẸSN'T ͢M͇AT͟T̘ER ͙G͇ET͓ ̤UP A̺ND̻ KICK ̳H͈ER AS̢S-" _

_No wait, I have the element of surprise on my side; I should use it best I can. _

_I just have to wait for an opening..._

* * *

"How many fucking daggers do you ha-" Katsumi's taunt ended mid-way through as the last explosion she set off in her hands didn't have enough impact. The fight had gone on for too long and she was out of sweat to detonate, only an impotent cloud of smoke and sparks setting off instead of the concussive force she needed to deflect the knife speeding towards her.

_Shit._

"Enough for you, trash," Stain hissed from across the alley.

Katsumi attempted to dodge, but like her quirk, her whole body had worn out during the marathon of a fight. Her limbs felt like they had been filled with lead as she forced herself to dodge out of the way of the incoming projectile, her arm not moving the way she wanted it to as she felt the slight sensation of her skin breaking against the sharp, cold edge of the blade whizzing past.

Her eyes shot down on her bicep to confirm the cut as the dull ache slowly turned into the sharp throbbing pain of a cut, slowly leaking blood out. Her other hand slapped over the wound applying some pressure instinctively. Stain had managed to get a cut in.

_Wait… not paralyzed ye- _

The fact dawned on her, her widened crimson eyes and her head jerking back towards the source of the projectiles that had scraped against her arm. Looking for the lanky form that was surely-

Stain had closed the gap in the mere seconds she took to comprehend that she was cut by one of her blades. Her katana shining hungrily, ready to do more damage than the minor cut that had broken her attention.

_Ah shi- _

For a moment she could only watch in abject horror as Stain started swinging the blade in her hands, smiling maniacally now that the distance Katsumi had fought to retain between them was gone and the explosive hero was in her range.

Suddenly the manic smile faltered as a choking sound escaped from the villain's lips for just a second before her whole body flew up in a massive arc, slamming down and cratering the asphalt and kicking up a cloud of debris behind the now standing form of Izuku. His gauntlet was reflecting the bright green sparks surrounding his body as it gripped tight onto the scarves of the villain he had tossed over his head.

He panted, slowly rising back up to his full height while shooting a glance at her over his shoulder. "Missed me?"

Katsumi breathed a sigh of relief, her smirk returning as Izuku took a step back from the crater, his back hitting against hers. He grunted, ready to add more potholes to the road if needed.

Part of her was cheering on how her dreams of fighting crime side by side came true.

"Finally decided to get up from your beauty nap, Deku?"

"Someone needed to cover your ass, might as well be me," he quipped back, a smile in his voice. "Now, how to deal with this?"

"We make sure she stays down," she hissed, hands cracking with only smoke as she winced in pain. "...You make sure she stays down."

"...Understood," he muttered, staring back down to the crater. "But I think it's over. Her quirk shouldn't have any defensive properties, she should be at least con-"

A dagger flew by, hitting his helmet but not even chipping the paint.

"You just _had _to say shit."

Stain huffed, standing back up on wobbly feet. "So… your blood type was O…"

_I knew it. _

"I… must admit." Stain panted, her whole body quaking with every harsh breath she took. "You fought valiantly _Ground Zero. _" She stood up to her full height, standing slightly taller than even Izuku. "But that doesn't change the fact that you are yet another fake. And all fakes will fall by my blade, it is their fate."

"You are skipping steps," Katsumi simply shot back. "You got a true hero to contend with before me."

"You are right." Stain spat out, her hazy crimson eyes focusing on Izuku. "A man, living up to the hero mantle. It's a sad day to see you rose so far yet still sully yourself by protecting fakes."

"**You still claim my sister was a fake?**" Tomoyo raged, the high pitched scream of jet engines winding up deafening all but her quiet outburst as blue flames shot out from her calves, casting dark shadows on the walls of the alleyway.

Stain's eyes widened and she half turned, snapping her sword up in a guard as Tomoyo surged up and at the villain from the side. Capitalizing on the distraction, Izuku darted forwards, flickering green and muscles tensed as he exploited his heavier mass, large gauntlet cocked back as he neared.

**_"RECIPRO BURST!"_**

**_ "DETROIT SMASH!"_**

Tomoyo's foot impacted squarely under her ribs, the bones cracking as it followed through upwards diagonally forcing Stain's upper torso to bend. Right into Izuku's metal-clad fist which had crashed satisfyingly against her skull bending her neck to the other side punctuated by the sounds of her vertebra straining.

The attacks followed through, both ending up on opposite sides of where they had initiated with their backs facing Stain, both panting.

The villain started falling down, her body finally crumbling after all the hits it had taken during the fight. Her body landing on the ground with a heavy thud.

"That… should be enough…" Izuku muttered turning around slowly. If he had added any more power to his punch he would've snapped her neck.

He didn't want anyone to go through that, villain or not.

He threw a glance at Tomoyo both had their guards down. "We need to ta-"

Stain's sword clacked against the floor as she gripped it her frantic eyes focusing on her target as she swung, ready to pierce Tomoyo's chest.

A wall of flame engulfed her, halting her attack, followed by a burst of ice trapping her in her spot.

All eyes landed on Shoko, panting at the entrance of the alleyway, both hands pointed at the now encased villain. "Got… your message… Izuku."

* * *

"God _DAMMIT!" _Eiji screamed as she used a burst of flame to propel herself across several rooftops in her pursuit of the winged Nomu. She had already thrown several javelins of flame at the thing and it persisted in the sky.

Powerful muscles flapped as the creature's frankly tanky body kept itself aloft. How it was able to fly with several holes in its wings and what had to be several hundred pounds of mass baffled Eiji.

Though, with the blind rage fueling her chase, she didn't have the energy to care much beyond catching the thing. It rounded another corner, forcing the hero to push herself off the nearest wall and toward the blind corner.

_I will _**_not_ **_let that upstart bunny bitch outshine me._

* * *

Katsumi panted heavily, leaning on the wall for a moment before sliding down into a sitting position. "..._ Fuck _."

"I cannot believe you did this," Izuku hissed at Tomoyo, his helmet clicking and folding back around his chest. "You went after the Hero Killer? _On your own? _" he huffed, rubbing his hand over his face. "Thank God you had enough sense left in you to call me yesterday."

"It- It was _my _fight," Tomoyo argued back weakly, looking down with shame. "I- had to do it. For the Ingenium name."

"No," Izuku snapped back, taking a step closer to her and towering over the woman in question. "You almost got yourself killed." There was a certain authority and disappointment in his voice that reminded her of her father. "Do you really think your sister would've wanted that?"

"I-" Tomoyo began defiantly before looking down."N-no…" she sniffled, voice breaking softly as she shed tears. "I- I didn't- I was just-"

"Just what?" Izuku asked sternly, demanding that she continue.

"I…" She looked over to Stain's unconscious body. "I don't know."

Izuku sighed. "Do you think you're a more capable hero than your sister?"

Tomoyo was stunned by the insinuation. "N-no, of course not!"

"Then why did you think you could handle Stain by yourself when she couldn't?" Izuku asked, his face flat.

"I…"

"You should be dead," Izuku reminded her grimly. "And the only reason you're not is because we helped you."

Tomoyo stiffened up. "Yes, you are right. You have my gratitude."

"No, no, you're missing the point," Izuku sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You are alive because we, your friends and classmates, helped you. You were suffering, Iida, anybody with a brain could have seen that, but you didn't let us in. You didn't let us help, not at first." He looked down into her eyes, his expression softening. "Then you did and because of that, you're not dead. There is a reason your sister had so many sidekicks. We are at our weakest when we're alone. There's no shame in asking for help."

Tomoyo stared up, her mind racing. _Tensa never shied away from asking for help. She even told me that I was her source of strength… God, I've been such a fool. _Tears began to fall harder from her eyes.

Izuku silenced her racing mind with a hug, pulling her close while avoiding her wounded shoulder and patting her back comfortingly "I was so scared of what might've happened if I hadn't made it in time."

She squinted her eyes, wrapping around his torso and gripping on the fabric of his suit tightly with her unwounded hand. "S-stain was right- I pushed everyone away… broke my morals cause I was mad. Angr-"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," Katsumi spat out from her spot with a smirk "You reacted emotionally like a human being, big whoop. That makes us better heroes. And if that _shitstain _thinks being emotional is a folly, ask her why robots don't do hero work."

* * *

Mecha Might activated suddenly on his charging dock.

"**Reminder Set: Beat the shit out of Bakugo Katsumi**"

* * *

"So be a dear and just, don't listen to her BS," she grunted with finality, pulling her new goggles up and rubbing her eyes.

"But she was…" Tomoyo started before giving in and pushing her head harder against Izuku's neck and shoulder. "I was a fool."

"We all are," Shoko muttered, rummaging through the garbage bins in her search to find something to tie up the villainess. "If we weren't, we wouldn't be at UA trying to learn to not be fools."

"Listen to Thermostat," Katsumi agreed with a sharp nod. "That all being said, what the _fuck _kind of training did this fucker go through to be that tenacious?"

Izuku chuckled softly, his body vibrating comfortably against Tomoyo's. "Ideals are one hell of a drug Kacchan."

Tomoyo finally realised what she was doing and pulled back from Izuku's embrace with a soft blush. "T-thank you for coming to my aid…"

Izuku smiled softly. "You are very welcome, Iida."

A beat of silence passed in the alleyway.

"I found some rope," Shoko announced, pulling out several meters of industrial grade rope out of one of the bins.

Izuku's face fell and Katsumi's eyebrow shot up as the silence held for another moment.

"Who the fuck tosses rope into the garbage?" she asked.

"Someone that doesn't need it anymore?" he offered before turning to Shoko. "Wash your hands after this; we don't know where that's been."

"Yeah we do: in the garbage bin," she said with a shrug.

"... Holy shit, was that sarcasm? Glasses did you know Thermostat had a sense of humor?" Katsumi asked with a smirk and a barely-contained cackle.

"_ Ha-ha _," Izuku laughed sarcastically, before joining in with a genuine chuckle. "Help me disarm Stain, we wouldn't want her cutting free, would we?"

"Honestly, if she gets back up from that, I don't think _anything _can keep her down," she huffed, starting to take off all the blades she could from the frozen, unconscious body. "And Glasses, you should probably wake the pro up. She's been out since I got here, right?"

"Right… I think she passed out when Stain was attempting to finish her off…" Tomoyo gently laid her functional arm on the passed out pro's shoulder, shaking it lightly.

* * *

Gran rechecked the message she got once again, hopping from building to building and trying to get to the initial location Izuku had run.

_C'mon… Don't be late- not again._

Images of blood and wrecked buildings buzzed through her head, reminding her of a day she never wanted to recall. Her whole body shuddered once more.

She knew she could've been here earlier, but a part of her was still scared of what she was going to find. She had been too far away from this location for far too long.

There was a good chance she was already too la-

She shook her head.

"Stop thinking like that and just go there," she huffed to herself. "If I waltz around it more I'll really be late."

The older woman rubbed her face then activated her quirk, bursting towards the alleyway that was surely a battleground for the fight of multiple lives.

* * *

Izuku grabbed Stain by the ropes around her torso, lifting her up with one hand and heaving her over his shoulder. He glanced around once more as they prepared to leave the forgotten and dark alleyway now that the unconscious villain had been disarmed and Shoko was helping the now-conscious Native stand up.

"Runt?" came the old voice he had recognised from the previous days, her tone not grumpy as usual, but fearful.

"Gran? Over here, we took care of it!" he called out with a wave. "Where is Miruko?"

"_ That's _the pro hero you went with?" Katsumi asked with squinted eyes, kicking the pile of blades farther away from Stain as she did so.

"Bakugou, be respectful!" Tomoyo chastised half-heartedly, trying to get some sense of normalcy for herself after all that had happened.

"What do you mean we- What do you mean you took care of it?!" Gran blustered, running up to the entrance to the alleyway and staring incredulously inside as the five heroes made their way to her after a long fight, Izuku dropping Stain onto the sidewalk.

"We should probably call an ambulance and the police," he chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I SAID WAIT UP!" a new voice screamed, turning the corner. "SHOKO!"

"Bonfire?" Izuku questioned, his eyes getting that familiar sparkle at meeting yet another pro hero, but he held in his excitement. "What are you doing here?"

The hero leaned on her knees trying to catch her breath before double-taking, realizing just who had asked her that question. "Oh- you're that guy- from UA- Uh, hi?" she panted a little harsher finally catching her breath. "How did you even manage to run that fast? Damn, I barely kept up."

Shoko blushed a little. "I thought Midoriya was in trouble…"

"He was, but that's nothing new," Katsumi smirked, leaning on him.

"GET DOWN!"Izuku didn't have time to react to the order, as his brain was stuck on just _who _had given it. His eyes landed on Endeavor's form, trying to process the fact that she was here at Hosu, too.

Just as he came to terms with the fact, giant claws struck him, black talons sinking into his shoulders as he was suddenly hefted up into the air.

He didn't even feel the pain for a second, only numbly noticing that he couldn't move his arms anymore with his shoulder muscles pinned tight by the sharp claws that had pieced down to the bone, gripping into his robust skeleton.

Suddenly the pain flooded in, sharp and hot, making his head swim with every heaving tug the creature gave with the powerful flaps of its wings as it carried him farther away from the ground.

His eyes snapped up, realizing it was a Noumu that had gripped onto him, then snapped back down, noticing that he was now already a good ten meters off the ground. His mind started rushing, Endeavor's flames would catch him in the crossfire and Katsumi couldn't get enough height after overusing her quirk for so long in the fight against Stain.

"Oh…" he muttered softly, realizing how dire the situation had gotten already. He had just a few seconds left to save himself before the fall alone would kill him. He was already above most of the buildings.

_Arm's can't move- then leg- _

His eye caught a white and brown blur, kicking off from one building to another, leaving craters in its wake, before-

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE, YOU OVERGROWN PIGEON!" the blur screamed as it kicked off the corner of the building, streaked up to his position.

Time seemed to grind to a halt as it solidified in its appearance, slowing down at the peak of its parabola right above the Noumu.

Miruko spun in mid-air just as Izuku had against Mecha-Might last week at the sports festival.

"**KAGUYA CRESCENT!**"

* * *

**A/N**

* * *

**It's been... exactly a year since I started working on this fic and I'm gonna be honest... I never expected it to get this big; neither the fic, nor the discord group it spawned. **

**If you all allow me to be sappy for a moment, it gets me a little choked up inside. It really feels like I accomplished something big here, makes me feel proud and content. **

**And today is its anniversary. **

**I won't lie, I was overwhelmed at times, and only pushed through thanks to the comments you all left and the support in the discord group you all have given me and the other writers that now call it their home. **

**Thank you all for sticking with me for as long as you have. **

**Thank you for your support.**

**And thank you for reading TC up to this point. I hope you enjoyed it and continue to do so for the years to come.**

**See you all in the next chapter.**


	56. We answer the call when needed

He had seen it millions of times before, looped the videos that he found online, taken notes on frame-by-frame analyses posted, and even done some attempts of his own.

Each time it took his breath away.

But this time was different. This time he got to watch it live, right in front of his eyes.

And he had front-row seats.

It was like watching poetry in motion.

Miruko spun like a gymnast, her arms tucked in over her chest, preserving her momentum as her hair flowed freely, splaying at all sides with the centrifugal forces and turning her into a true white spiral. She spun faster and faster, until the air itself cracked, thundering as she broke the sound barrier yet again.

Her arms snapped outward, slowing her down for just a moment; enough for her to adjust course and rotate her body.

Then the _real _magic happened.

Her spinning motion turned from lateral to vertical in an instant. Her crimson eyes locked onto her target with a predatory look that didn't fit her prey animal motif. Her leg shot out, heel glinting even in the dim light of the night sky.

Then her powerful thighs flung it down with enough speed to produce contrails created by its arc towards her target.

The white crescent it left behind was what gave the move its name, after all.

The steel of Miruko's heel hit the exposed brain of the winged beast; the speed, the momentum, and all the force she had generated struck straight at the monster's command center.

There was a sickening, echoing _crack _.

The head was gone, its spine not having nearly enough strength to resist such an overpowering force.

The tanky body of the monstrosity tipped forward, the minimal inertia it's body had gained from its resistance spinning the whole body forward and taking Izuku along with it.

Its muscles went lax, the body already dying with the brain gone. And as the muscles went lax, both it and Izuku spinning Its claws loosened from his ribcage, giving his muscles enough space to move again.

His arms shot out, fingers gripping and pulling the claws out from his shoulders, freeing himself from the talons. He continued the spinning motion the body had started, his feet landing on its torso.

Then the world thundered as he crashed back into the earth, his boots snapping through the ribcage of the monstrosity, swallowing enough of his downward momentum that he landed safely.

The moment his brain processed that he was safe, his eyes shot back up, looking for the dropping-

He sent the signal through his arms, gauntlets unlatching and loosening around his arms as he flung both limbs back, the metal armaments flying off his arms and into the road, giving him just enough time to catch Miruko.

His arm had managed to get under her knees and another right behind her back as he crouched, trying to absorb enough of her kinetic energy that she would be unhurt as well.

For a breathless moment, she was in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck right after his catch, trying to keep herself secure.

He didn't notice or care that he was holding her in a princess carry. She didn't mind it either.

"Good… catch," she breathed out, crimson eyes locking onto his emeralds.

"Good save," he commented back, his own breathing stabilizing. "...How were you planning to land?"

"...Didn't think about that part," she muttered back with a blush growing on her cheeks.

"MIDORIYA!"

And like that, the moment was lost as Endeavor took strong strides towards the two heroes. "It's good to see that you are… undamaged."

The way she said 'undamaged' sent shivers up his spine. "Yeah, I'm fine." He looked back to the woman in his arms. "Thank you, Miruko."

"Oh- uh you're welcome?" The bunny hero muttered. "Y-you can put me down now."

"Oh. Right," he muttered, gently letting her down from his arms, away from the gore of the monster he was standing in.

That's when Katsumi rushed to his side. "Fine!? _Fine!? _" Her hands reached up to the holes the talons had left on his chest. "You're _fucking _wounded!"

"I- well, yeah, but I'll be fine," he shrugged, the wounds moving yet not bleeding at all. "Honestly, I think my suit kinda sealed the holes already…"

"That is…" Katsumi retracted her hand. "I would call bullshit, but since Mei built the suit…"

"Yeah, I should've expected it myself," Izuku muttered, looking down on his girlfriend then the rest of the crew gathered around.

Endeavour was glaring at him, her rage bubbling just below the surface.

"Is there a problem?" he asked taking a step forward, towards the pro.

"You rejected my letter," she hissed simply. "How dare you."

"..." He turned away and ignored the question, walking back towards the Noumu. "Miruko, do you think this thing is dead?"

"Last one I took down didn't get back up after the brain was destroyed." She shrugged. "With that missing, I don't think It's gonna get back up."

"Right, the one at USJ couldn't get back up after that either…" he mumbled, crouching down to inspect the body.

"Stop. Ignoring. Me." Endeavor took a step forward, her voice filled with commanding anger. "I am the number two hero. I _demand _respect."

"And I thought Midoriya was the brat here," Gran mumbled, walking towards the corpse. "Did it have multiple quirks?"

"I can't tell…" Izuku mumbled, looking at the wounds. "It could be, but it could be someone else's quirk changing their appearances and they just had the birdlike body as a mutation quirk."

"That would explain the physical similarities," Miruko added. "Why the exposed brain though?"

Izuku shrugged.

"Okay, detective session over," Katsumi huffed. "Anyone called the cops and an ambulance?"

Bonfire gestured with her hand. "Yeah, yeah they are en route. Told me they could take- 30 minutes!?- Ma'am we got-" she huffed. "I understand that there was an attack on Hosu!"

She turned around to continue murmuring to her phone.

"...Ok then." Izuku huffed, "we should probably-"

His eyes landed on where Stain was.

_Was. _

"Where-" his eyes scanned the street. _She must've used the Noumu's chaos to- _

_"BȨHI̪ND ̠E̟ND̟E̗ẠV-̙" _

Nana didn't get to finish her statement as Izuku burst into action, lightning surging around his body as he pushed Endeavor to the side, grabbing Stain's wrist. Stopping the knife in its tracks.

He hissed as he held the wrist at bay, staring straight into Stain's face with indignation. "Would you just stay dow-"

She wasn't paying attention to him, staring past him and into the woman he had knocked on her ass in his bid to stop the murder. "Endeavor."

The hiss she uttered caused everyone at the scene to shudder involuntarily.

Compared to now, her murderous intent towards Iida was akin to parental disappointment.

"You fake."

She attempted to move past Izuku, struggling against his grip.

The effort and the movement caused her bandana to fly off her face, revealing the scar where her nose should've been.

"I need. To make it. Right," She wheezed, still struggling as a dark, murderous aura emanated off her, washing over the heroes on the scene. "Someone must be stained in blood."

Izuku held on, his whole body shivering as Stain continued her rhetoric. Unable to move, unable to even think.

"I must… take back what it means to be a hero."

_"Do ̰someth̭i̟ng!" _

"Come! Try and take me down you fakes!" Stain bellowed, still struggling against the massive weight of Izuku and his iron grip. "The only one I'll let kill me is the true hero..."

She wheezed. **"ALL MIGHT!"**

The oppressive aura intensified, the ideal alone causing everyone to remain stock still.

Izuku's suit hissed, the helmet snapping around his face as he pulled his head back.

And slammed it into the Hero Killer's face.

Stain wobbled back, keeping her footing for just a moment before falling down, the hit finally doing her in and rendering her unconscious.

Just like that, the aura vanished, everyone finally regaining their ability to breathe again.

_T-thanks for… turning Flow on… _

_"J̮-̦J͖eͅsu͓s ̠chr̙i̧s̘t̥…̩" _Nana shuddered. _"S͈h̢e͙… ̫r̨eal̪ly w̖as so̻m͢e͈t͉h͉i̫ng̦." _

* * *

Tsukiko was cackling, watching the last strike almost cave Stain's head in. She tossed the binoculars back to Kurogiri with a wide smirk barely hidden by the hand on her face.

"That's what you get, you uppity bitch," she hissed between fits of cackles, before slowly growing silent, hearing the whirr of helicopter blades.

She cocked her whole body back, looking towards the newscopter in the air. "You think they got a vid of us?"

"Would you like me to take them down?" Kurogiri offered as if asking if the bar was running out of alcohol. "A simple teleport to-"

"...Okay, you aren't that idiotic... is this master testing me?" Tsukiko asked with a tilt of her head and a scratch of her neck. "Every piece of evidence we leave behind only strengthens our cause."

"Good." Kurogiri nodded, her voice sounding somewhat proud. "You recognized the test."

"Whatever," the pale woman shrugged, still scratching her neck. "Tomorrow will show if this seed we sowed has any promise."

Her face split into a smile, watching the cop cars pull up and start restraining the beaten and broken Stain.

"Thank you for letting us use you like this, Hero Killer, hope you have fun watching us flourish against your ideals in Tartarus." Her eyes grew manic, shoulders shaking with the bubbling laughter in her, threatening to spill out. "Like a parasite growing out of the animal it killed. Such a brutal tactic; don't you think, Kurogiri?"

"Indeed," the woman perpetually in dark mist huffed, not really approving of the simile or the utter delight Tsukiko felt..

"... Let's head out. I'm getting bored and this should be enough to tie us to the attack."

"Certainly." Kurogiri nodded, activating her quirk and warping both villains in an instant.

* * *

"...You again." One of the paramedics hissed as she looked at Izuku's face. "You keep getting into trouble, this is what... the _third _time you have been wounded?"

"Wait- Again?" he squinted lightly looking at the paramedics face. "-oh, why are you here I thought you were enrolled in the Musfaratu general hospital-"

"Kid, look at this place. Do you think Hosu general has enough hands on deck to take care of everyone hurt?"

"I- I guess not" He mumbled, ignoring the pointed looks from both Miruko and Katsumi.

"Now shut up, hop in the car." the paramedic mumbled pointing at the ambulance, "I swear you are gonna give me gray hairs."

"But- I'm"

"Tell that to the doctor, besides…" the paramedic looked at the cuffed Stain, the dead body of the Noumu, and the rest of the heroes giving their statements. "I don't think staying here is gonna help anything. Your job is done."

"I-" he looked around, seeing Tomoyo being tended to, and Stain truly secure in the steel cuff around her torso, her face still slightly bleeding. "I guess you are right-"

"Just get on the goddamn ambulance before I sedate you, sir."

* * *

Himiko wasn't one to normally watch the news, but as she was walking past the screen on the street, something caught her eye. Something green.

The love of her life.

The image of Izuku faded as the news anchor appeared. "Tonight's top story is our continued coverage of what is being called the 'Hosu Incident'," Miyagi Daika began, tapping some papers in front of her.

Himiko thought her horn looked kinda dumb.

"Six creatures attacked the city out of seemingly nowhere last night, causing millions of yen in property damage and injuring dozens. Several deaths have been reported and numbers on the destruction are still rising as the officials on site discover the scope of the damages."

_Ugh, boring! Get back to my Izuku~_

"The creatures were all dispatched by the heroes that arrived to assist, keeping damages to a minimum. However, the recovered bodies paint a worrying picture, as the creatures bear a striking resemblance to the creature that attacked UA's USJ facility last month. What's more is this footage captured from one of our news helicopters that was on the scene."

A small, shaky video showing two people standing on top of a water tower played. One was covered in a strange purple mist and the other was covered in… hands? Weird.

"These two match the description given to police following the attack on the USJ. It is safe to assume that the League of Villains is behind this attack."

_Who caaares?!. _Himiko was getting bored.

"What's more, is that it appears that the League of Villains has joined forces with the infamous Hero Killer Stain."

Himiko perked up. _Stainy? _

"The Hero Killer attacked several UA students who were participating in an internship program for the week, but was apprehended. However, that's not the end of this story. Thanks to an anonymous source, we have footage of the final moments of the incident.

Another video played, this one even shakier and lower quality than the rest. Himiko didn't care, because the video was showing her love, Izuku. The audio was too garbled for her to make out much of anything, but whatever they were talking about was suddenly interrupted by a flying beast swooping up the man and carrying him off.

Those talons were buried so deep.

His blood was so red.

Then some bunny lady swooped in and saved him or something. Himiko wasn't really paying attention to anything but the way Izuku's blood dripped down his hero costume. Then a sudden flurry of motion broke her from her trance.

Stain had woken up and was swinging her blade straight for Endeavor.

_Yes! Stab her! Show me that blo-_

Izuku's hand caught her wrist before she could make contact.

Himiko's world froze.

She watched Izuku stare Stain down, his eyes burning with fire and fury as blood continued to drip down his body. Her ears weren't working, but her eyes were in overdrive, taking in every single detail of his body and his face.

He reared his head back as a helmet folded around his face, then he slammed his head forward, knocking Stain out for good.

There was a part of her mind that was connecting the dots with Stain and the League of Villains, but the part of her mind currently in control was too stunned by everything else.

She had watched the video of his flex at the Sports Festival enough times that she was afraid that it was going to burn itself into her phone's screen, but this video…. This video was so much better.

Himiko stopped watching the screen and hurried off, trying to get home as soon as possible as she felt heat begin to pool beneath her stomach.

She had to… _take care _of something.

* * *

Ibara watched the news in the meal hall of Kamui Woods' agency. After greeting her aunt who also worked there, she had turned on the news while eating her lunch. Like other people with plant quirks she focused on getting her nutrients from non-plant food since it always went straight to her vines.

Maybe he would like her having longer vines for her hair? She took a sharp inhale and prayed to herself, trying to bury the temptation that had risen to her consciousness yet again.

When news of the Hosu attack came on and she saw him she dropped her wrap, staring in shock.

He had fought the Hero Killer alongside his classmates. He had _beaten _the Hero Killer with their help. What the hell had gone on down there!?

And why did Kamui not send her aunt out to help with rescue work for anyone trapped in rubble?

_Ibara, focus. You can talk to him when you get back. Maybe have Kendo come with you to keep you from overreacting again._

She had to check up on him and make sure he wasn't hurt. If only her traitorous mind and organs could stay under control and not make her accuse others of being demons again.

* * *

Eiji shuddered, taking a seat at her desk with a heavy slump. She had been milliseconds, just _inches _from death via that psychopath's knife in her neck. An unparalleled career snuffed out with one stroke.

She leaned over, reaching for an interior door in her large desk. A thick bottle and glass clinked together as she produced the white oak whiskey. It was made just the way she liked it; burnt barrels charred as heavily as could be possible. It gave the malt a smokey taste that was downright smooth against her throat. Pouring herself a glass, she took a shaky sip and savored the flavor.

**_"Would you just stay down?"_**

Eiji flinched, stopping herself just short of breaking the glass in her hand.

"Midoriya…"

She sighed. He had been more than disrespectful. He ignored her, had avoided her gaze and her offer of internship. Her offer of…

She took another drink.

But then he had saved her.

The thrill of it all. He had been _so close _, she could practically feel his masculinity radiating off him like an aura. It had been absolutely intoxicating, and under… different circumstances… she might have _taken advantage _of the situation.

He had saved her.

He had saved _her._

It had to be a declaration.

She smirked, wiping the corner of her mouth as a small rivulet of the liquor escaped as she took another drink.

He was playing hard to get, coy. But his most recent actions spoke the loudest of all.

She would have him. And when she did, he would come willingly.

For now, she could get closer into his life by visiting her ...wife.

Who just happened to be at the same hospital Izuku was being taken care of in.

* * *

He huffed, walking in the halls of the hospital, tugging at the collar of his hospital gown.

_I know its proper protocol for a cut that deep to be observed for infections but seriously?_

_"Do͚ ̧y̢o͔u̖ ̥kno̝w̨ ̦wh̜er̦e tha̰t ͈Noum͇ų ͇wa͉ṣ?̨ __" _Nana chastized _"I think ̙t̩he̗y̫ ͕s͢ho̤ul͢d ̘ob̞serv͇e͙ y͜ou͇ f̳o̧r͖ ̙ḷo̬n̹ge͉r̩." _

_Shush. I know you are saying that cause you like how this gown clings to me. _

_"C̠urs̨e͓ ͟you̢ ̙and͟ y̧our ͉c̖o̠nne̩c̼tio͈n ̬t̝o ̮me.͎" _

He cracked his vertebra with a hand over his neck, wincing at the slight pulse of pain on his shoulders at the motion.

_God it's more like muscle cramps than an actual wound. _

_"It ̲pr̺obab̧l̥y ̲d̗id ̘t̻e͇a͚r̙ e̦n͈ou̡gh ̙t̞iss̞u̺e͜ to h͈u̗rṱ ̞t̼h̙e͉ sa͟me ͅw̗ay, ͇ẹspeci̖a̱ll̪y̢ ẉhen̟ you tri̭e̪d mo̲v̦in̝g̗ y̻o͕u̜r͟ arms.͟" _

_Right- _he knocked at the door of Katsumi and Tomoyo's shared room. "Are you two awa-"

"FOUR-EYES I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T STO-"

He swung the door open, only to come face to… butt with Tomoyo kneeling in a dogeza in front of a standing Katsumi.

_"W̖ow̠, th̟es͟e ͇t̤hi͜ng͔s ri̞de̙ up ͚wh͇e͍n͢ you ̥be̡n̺d ̘ḽike t̳hat ̺h̠uh?"̯_

His eyes snapped to the ceiling in an instant, causing him to get the slight loss of vision that movement of that speed caused. "Kacchan, can you please not? We are at the hospital, and its _nine in the morning, _" he whisper-shouted.

"Tell her to stop that then!" she shot back, looking uncomfortable.

Tomoyo slowly rose from the ground turning and getting into a dogeza in front of Izuku too. "Thank you for saving me back there. I had lost myself in emotion and-"

"Get up."

"I need to show you my-"

"Get. Up." Izuku repeated, his eyes shadowed over, as they had been against Hitsuki, Causing Katsumi to flinch at the recollection.

Tomoyo did as she was ordered, slowly getting up from the ground and looking down. "...After everything she was- she still spoke the tr-"

Izuku tugged her forward with a hand on her unhurt shoulder, pulling her into a tight but comfortable hug, his body almost melting around hers as he avoided her wounded arm. "You don't need to thank either of us, cause we both would do this five times over. You were human and that is _fine. _You hear me?"

Her arm wrapped around him again, starting to shed some tears again. "W-why won't you let me thank you..?"

"I just told you, and I will repeat that as many times as it takes, alright?" He mumbled.

Somehow repeating the words in a hospital made it feel more real.

Along with the winding sensation of how close to death they both had been slowly crashing over them.

"Ok, I don't know about Deku, but if you say that one more time I _will _punch you in the shoulder then laugh at your pain we clear?" Katsumi huffed, lying back on her bed. "I can't believe I got dragged into this hospital 'cause of that small wound."

"Considering the upkeep on her blades it is a real possibility you might have gotten tetanus," Shoko mumbled slowly closing the door behind her.

"Yeah rig- THERMOSTAT HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET IN!?"

"My mom's in this hospital, the nurses know me now… they let me in before the visiting hours." She mumbled, hiding behind Izuku slightly.

As if the visitor jogged her brain back to activation, Tomoyo slowly pulled away from Izuku.

"Oh? How's she doing?" Izuku mumbled slowly turning around to face Shoko.

"I- haven't checked on her yet… was gonna ask if we could do that together…" Shoko mumbled, looking down on the ground with an aloof face, messing with a strand of her hair.

"...Better question, why did you come here first if you wanted to drag Deku to meet your mom?"

"He wasn't in his room," Shoko mumbled, not noticing the accusatory tone of voice Katsumi had.

"I see, that does make sense, thank you." Katsumi replied in a monotone.

"Kacchan be nice." Izuku hissed back.

A knock stopped the banter.

"Is the brat in there too?" Gran Torino asked from the other side of the door. "You all have a visitor."

The door opened, Gran Torino, Manual and Best Jeanist entering into the room. A shadow remaining behind the three.

Manual looked like she was both starstruck and dead on her feet at the same time.

Tomoyo bowed, uttering an apology that Manual accepted with a smile.

"You all are a pain in the neck you know that right?" Gran uttered with a sigh, rubbing her forehead "leaving all the paperwork to us."

"Sor-"

"Before that, the guest I had mentioned." Gran huffed stepping to the side. "It's good that you all were collected here, saved us the trouble of collecting you all for your debrief."

"Debrief?"

A tall, broad-shouldered woman with a dog head walked in. "Hello, I'm the police chief."

Tomoyo stood up ram-rod straight, uninjured shoulder squared in almost a militaristic pose, Shoko following it somewhat with practiced ease. Katsumi attempted no such thing, looking up with a raised eyebrow, followed by Best Jeanist sighing and using her quirk to force her into position with a yelp from the woman. Izuku had a similar reaction before his brain kicked in, falling into the stance himself.

"No need for that." Chief waved them off before putting her hands in her pockets. "You all performed admirably in last night's attack. The heroes you have been interning under have stated as such."

Izuku smiled proudly before losing the expression at Gran Torino's glare.

"That, however, doesn't change the fact that you have broken the law by using your quirks against someone with the intent to hurt the-"

"If I may." Izuku interrupted, shocking himself with the sudden outburst.

Then again he had been thinking of this ever since he had first punched Stain. He knew the law.

"Law states that there could be no unauthorized use of quirks under any circumstance, even in self-defense, as long as the opposing party was damaged." He belted out with practiced wording, shocking even the police chief.

She probably thought they were going to be shocked by the law.

Aizawa had beaten the procedures into them during the second day of class.

"We all had express permission." His eyes scanned the room at the pro's. "Shoko was at the scene with permission from Endeavor to help with the scene, so was Katsumi. Both aided in the suppression of an active threat as they were thought and allowed to do so."

"That _is _correct, however they were given permission to dispatch Noumu- not an active Villain like Stain." The chief shot back. "The procedures are different."

"How so?" Katsumi asked, face in a strained smile. "We were given permission to use our quirks at the scene, doesn't that cover any villains that would be on the scene?"

"That is true." the chief mumbled looking down slightly. "That doesn't change the fact that you, Izuku Midoriya have used your quirk to hurt Stain when you weren't given permissi-"

"I don't have one." He shrugged.

"Excuse me?" the chief blinked, looking at the man that matched her stature.

"I haven't- or rather _couldn't _register my quirk as the government hasn't put in the legislation to allow me to register it." His eyes locked into the eyes of the chief. "In the eyes of the law I do not have a quirk. Therefore I cannot be punished for using a quirk with intent against another party."

"I-" The chief looked like she was knocked off balance. "Is- Is this true?"

Gran smiled slyly. "Neither I nor UA had legal documentation proving he has a quirk, I thought you knew."

"I see." She locked eyes with Tomoyo looking like she was trying to grab onto anything that she could. "That leaves young miss Iida, who went against-"

"She cannot be held accountable either." Izuku shot that down, pulling out a worn copy of the Japanese civil code. "The rules concerning quirks were built to sustain the status quo, that is correct." he flipped to a page he had bookmarked, a rule circled over and over on the page. "The thing is some of the older rules have never been changed." Article 698 greeted the vision of the chief. "Tomoyo acted within the law to protect life with no malicious intent. Protecting Native's life with hers on the line." he shot a look at her bandaged shoulder. "Under the circumstances, this article overrides quirk law doesn't it?"

"I- you-" the chief's eye twitched. "...where did you even pull that book out from?"

"Not important." he hissed, his eyes glaring holes in the dog-woman's eyes. "If you were to reprimand her, it would be on a governmental level. Are you ready to break and reinstate a key law in our code of civil conduct over the capture of a known serial killer? Do you really think the public would side with the government in a case like this?"

"... damn." the chief scratched behind her own ear. "And here I thought UA was missing an important part in their education system." her eyes focused on Izuku again, her relaxed state melting away. "I had been ready to not disclose this to the public and deal with this behind closed doors, but given your argument, I don't think our prosecutors can poke a hole in that."

"Not that it mattered." she shrugged, her tone softening again. "Someone leaked a video of you taking Stain down to the media already."

"Wait." Katsumi's eye twitched. Looking at Izuku, the book he held, and the chief. "Are you telling me you had this _massive _loophole in the law that you are not ready to amend, yet came all the way here to chastise us for working, for all intents and purposes, within the law?"

"Truth be told." She looked away with a weird smile only a dog could give. "I was planning on just giving you all a slap on the wrist to scare you away from getting yourselves killed by jumping too deep into the pool too soon. We have the PLE for a reason."

"Jeanist, let me go I'm gonna show her an 'unlawful use of one's quirk'."

Best Jeanist sweat-dropped. "Please do not threaten the acting chief of police."

The chief let out a burst of howling laughter. "That one has some spunk doesn't she, Jeanist; good luck on keeping her in line." She bowed after calming down. "Sorry to have scared you as I have. I must take my leave now, a loooooot of paperwork to do after what you all did."

With that, she left. Leaving the seven heroes alone.

Izuku panted, sighing softly. "Can't believe that worked."

Gran blinked. "Wait, you weren't certain it was going to work?"

He scratched his head. "Whenever quirk law pops up no one mentions article 698 in that, no matter the context. I wasn't sure if it was cause quirk law surpasses that to the point of not even being, or if everyone just overlooked it."

"Bold bluff." Jeanist nodded approvingly. "So this is the man of UA. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh- Ah! The pleasure is all mine!" Izuku bowed respectfully. "Would you care to give an autograph?"

"I got one for you already, Nerd." Katsumi chuckled pulling out a scrap of paper from her drawer.

"Oh so this is who you wanted it for." Jeanist mumbled approvingly, doing a once over of Izuku. "You do look larger in life than the cameras led me to believe."

"Oh- uh-" He did a once over of Jeanist back, taking note of her slim figure clad in… too much denim. Only her blonde hair and blue eyes popped out of the top of her… collar? That was shaped like jeans too? _...looking at her this close it does look kinda weird- _"Thank you?"

"Midoriya?" Shoko mumbled grabbing the back of his gown gently "Can we go to check on my mom now?"

With her tone, he wasn't sure if she was being aloof or shy.

He knew he found it adorable though.

He looked around, then allowed himself to grow a little lax, looking at Katsumi. "Can I?"

"Sure whatever," she mumbled with a slight smile. "Go, shoo, bet she'll be happy to meet one of her daughter's friends."

Her tone of voice made it seem like she was insulting… someone, yet the words seemed to be genuine so Izuku just shrugged and followed Shoko out the door.

"How did you even get someone so polite to even love you?" Best Jeanist remarked.

That's when the screaming started.

* * *

Mei huffed, looking through the garbled footage from the news once more, as Mecha Might attempted to stabilize and enhance the image.

"I swear this looked easier in the old shows then it actually is-"

"**D̮̑o̧͌nȩ̅.** **" **the machine hissed, projecting the video now unpixelated and zoomed in.

"Thank you." She nodded looking intently into the hologram. "Hmm… Suit needs to be more robust- might need Momo to produce materials again."

"**Wḩ̓y don'̪̌t y̗͑ou̥̍ ̦̃j̆͟us̩͑t̡̚ giv̫͗e h̯͋im̓͢ ͇a fulḻ͋ s͔͛u͚̓ỉ̫t o̥f̬̎ ̦́armor̩̚, ̰̒h̙̓e̟̚ ca̞͗ǹ͖ m̫̄ọvė̖ ea̡̎sǐ̲l̖̈́y ͇̿in͎̎ i͉͞t̘͆.** **" **

Mecha-Might shivered at the look Mei gave him at the suggestion.

"**O-̨͑o̢͡r͇͋ yo̱u͎̚ co͖ǔ̝l͇͞d j͚̄ust͓̾ ͕g̲̍iv̫̈́e him ȁ͢ ̜̚m̨͠or̺̽e s̠͋t̂ͅa͓͐b-p͍͂r͕͝oof ̣̔fa̯͘b̖̿r͓͊iċ̗ ̢́th͓̽a̺̔t͚̍ ̢̅h̨͝ủ͟g͍͗s̹͝ hḭ̕m̨̓ ̛̲as̩ ̠̔t͍̐igh͔̋tly**"

"Good… wonder what material could have those properties…"

* * *

Rei was worried.

She had seen Shoko safe and sound in the news broadcast, but she was worried nonetheless.

A knock at her door caused her to almost jump out of the bed, rushing to open the door.

"Mom- its-"

She swung the door open and hugged her daughter.

Who had grown tall and muscle-bound?

_Wait- what?_

* * *

**A/N:**

* * *

**"Article 698 of the Japanese civil code, concerning urgent management of business, states "If a Manager engages in the Management of Business in order to allow a principal to escape imminent danger to the principal's person, reputation or property, the Manager shall not be liable to compensate for damages resulting from the same unless he/she has acted in bad faith or with gross negligence." This is considered to be an equivalent of Good Samaritan laws. Also article 37 of the penal code, concerning averting present danger, stipulates "An act unavoidably performed to avert a present danger to the life, body, liberty or property of oneself or any other person is not punishable only when the harm produced by such act does not exceed the harm to be averted." Accordingly, resuscitation performed by laypeople is highly likely to be justified on the basis of urgent management business and averting present danger."**

**I never understood why no one brought this up in the anime, good samaritan laws exist dammit. **

**that being said- sorry for the long wait and thank you for your patience, University just began and that kinda ate all my time along with settling back to the US. **

**Thank you all for reading, and hope to see you on the next chapter.**


	57. What spring does with the cherry trees

**_404, lewd start not found_**

* * *

_Ok, think this through. _

Rei was frozen, her arms wrapped around an unfamiliar frame, muscles poking against her skin' some were hard with contractions while others were soft and almost supple against her exposed arms.

The slight texture of the hospital gown didn't even register against her, nor the long-forgotten feeling of her breasts pushing against a hard plane of skin and muscle.

_...Don't think about that part! _she chided herself, trying to figure out just _who _she was hugging.

She had heard her daughter call out for her behind the door, but if she wasn't hugging her…

A part of her still refused to allow her to open her eyes, fearing it would be… _her _that she was hugging, even if the frame contradicted that vehemently.

"Uh..." An arm awkwardly snaked around her torso, hugging her back with a gentle pressure that made her forget those years she had spent under Endeavour's heel for a moment. "Mrs.… I would say Todoroki but-"

_Ah… _She slowly opened her eyes, his gentle voice dashing the last of her fears. "Rei is fine."

He smiled softly, trying to hide how self-conscious he was feeling as he hugged the white-haired beauty. His eyes gazed into her steely grey ones for a moment, and for a moment he felt like he was punched in the stomach by a noumu, his breath getting knocked out of him.

"Hello!" he _squeaked _.

Nana was doing something between laughter and squeaking herself, incapable of tormenting Izuku in his own mind. She seemed smitten with her eyes just as he was.

"Mom," Shoko breathed out, her monotone voice somehow sounding... softer. "This is Izuku."

"Oh!" Rei finally pulled back and bowed her head gently, a slight blush on her cheeks forming on her cheeks after realizing how long she was hugging him for. "A pleasure to meet the young man that helped my little Snowflame."

"The pleasure is all mi-" His brain stuttered like an old engine grinding to a halt.

His eyes snapped from Rei to a blushing Shoko then back to Rei. "The pleasure is all mine."

Rei smiled back in a way only a mother could before flinching, noticing both Izuku and Shoko were still standing in the hallway. She moved to the side with a hop she bowed gently. "Oh, where are my manners? Please, take a seat."

Izuku sat down with an air of wonder in him, looking at the room Rei had been assigned for… _14 years possibly- _

His heart sunk at the thought, trying to grip into anything that would at least make it seem a little less sad.

At least, it was bigger than he had expected

It looked like two hospital rooms were combined, making one large room that was furnished with bookcases, a small table, a couch, and even a minifridge. Part of him questioned if they were still in a hospital looking at the massive bookshelves that were behind Rei's hospital bed, the nice curtains over the large windows, and the small living room-like place with the TV that was playing some soothing background music.

It felt homey.

And considering what he knew about Rei's situation… it was a small silver lining in her life.

He hummed gently taking a seat on the couch Rei gestured to, Shoko taking a seat next to him quietly.

He was just so taken by the whole situation that he didn't seem to notice how awkward all of them were being.

Then again, knowing what Shoko told him about her family life… no wonder neither of them knew how to act when they had a guest over.

Not that he had much experience himself. He doubted anything he had dealt with in the 'playdates' he had in the Bakugou household was normal.

"I- hmm… Shoko talked a lot about you," Rei opened up after growing comfortable around him and tired of the silence. "She really cares about you, you know…"

"I-" He scratched his cheek with a slight blush. "She's a dear friend of mine, too… I'm glad she speaks so highly of me." He glanced over at her, giving her a soft smile.

Shoko repositioned herself next to him, with what he swore was a soft blush on her face.

"Mhm!" Rei smiled, clapping her hands. "And I really must thank you too… you got through to her after…" Her smile faltered and she looked down. "I'-I'm sorry… let's not talk about that time."

He nodded, not willing to go through that discussion and looking around to change the topic. "I didn't know hospitals even had rooms as big as this, is it comfortable?"

She laughed, albeit with bitter undertones. "It's… not the worst place I've lived in…" She pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear, smiling a little more sincerely. "I'm locked in this room for most of my time here… but it's honestly a lot better than… the house I used to live in."

Izuku nodded with a face growing steadily paler. _"G͢ųes̝s̗ ̥that̲'s̪ w̦h͟e̱r̥e ̼S̡h̥o͖ko̼ ̢got͖ ̨h̞er ha̗biṯ o̮f̼ ̭sp̰il̦l̼in̜g͓ ̟he̮r̗ ̝p͓ers̻on̼a̼l ͅst̩r̝ụg͢gle̤s̝ fr͉om…" _Nana mused with a grim tone of voice.

"But, that gives me all the time in the world to catch up on all of the books I wanted to read!" Rei's smile grew just a tiny bit, and Izuku regretted asking her about the room.

It was just another prison for her, only the silver linings keeping her from breaking.

He gripped the hospital gown over his knee, looking down in dark thoughts "...how much longer do you need to stay here?"

Rei looked shocked, so did Shoko, flinching at his peripheral.

"I-..." she looked down messing with a strand of her white hair in her hands. "...None of the doctors ever talk about it. I don't think I'll be checking out anytime soon… if ever."

"Oh," he mumbled, looking down too.

"...Wanna play some board games?" Rei offered, getting up from her chair and shuffling around in some closets.

Izuku shook the mood off him. "I'd like that, yeah"

* * *

Endeavor walked down the halls of the hospital with her head held high and her boots clicking against the tiles with every step. The staff avoided her like the plague; panic and fear strewn across their faces.

She loved the feeling of it all, coming to the hospital in her hero suit was a good idea.

Besides, _he _probably loved how the suit hugged her frame, showing off her curves in the most magnificent way.

She ran a hand over her waist, up against her ribs with a sickening grin, shivering with anticipation as she imagined it was his hand caressing her skin and not her own. A brief flash of her dream passed through her mind, exciting her just a bit more.

She just needed to visit her old incubator first. Money silenced the director of the hospital well enough, but she doubted the rest of the staff would keep quiet if she didn't keep up the act of a caring spouse…

She smirked as yet another nurse ducked in one of the rooms in fear when she saw her walking towards the room that had been modified to suit the incubator's extended stay. _Not that any of these bugs have the spine to do that._

Maybe after Izuku put a baby in her, she could have the incubator carry it to term instead.

_I'm sure he wouldn't want to ruin this~ _she thought running another hand over her body once more.

* * *

The boardgame lay on the coffee table forgotten by all in the room as the three occupants squeezed onto the couch together. Rei and Shoko flanked Izuku, their thighs almost on top of his in an attempt to fit onto the couch that was just a little too snug with a man of Izuku's size sitting on it.

But no one cared as Rei flipped through yet another page of childhood photos of Shoko, giggling and playing with her sisters. "And this is Shoko at Fuyumi's 7th birthday~" She cooed, caressing the picture of her smiling children. "I wish she would visit too… but I understand how busy the teacher training is."

"Oh? Is your sister aiming to become a teacher?" Izuku mumbled, turning to Shoko who nodded silently.

"She has a pas-"

The door slid open and a familiar scent of fire seeped into the room.

The room froze, Rei shuddering a bit and trying to shrink away from the new arrival, inadvertently half hiding behind Izuku whose eyes snapped up to glare at Endeavor.

Eiji broke out in a smirk, taking the last step inside and sliding the door closed behind her. "Izuku, darling, what a coincidence. It's so good to see you!"

"The feelings not mutual," he snapped back, shooting a glance at Rei then back at Eiji, placing an arm in front of her protectively as the woman further leaned back into the couch and behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Just visiting my wife, then was planning on checking up on you… great work yesterday~" She dragged her hands up from her waist to under her bust, crossing her arms to push them up further. "If only you had chosen me-_ my internship _instead, you'd have done even better of a job."

"I think taking down a known serial killer is a good debut," Shoko mumbled a cold rage.

"He could've done better under me, not been stuck in this hospital at all-"

That's when Izuku stood up, shoulders squared and back straight. His posture alone emanating a new presence that even gave Endeavour pause. "'Cause of the Noumu you couldn't dispatch even with all your skill as the 'number two'. Yes, I remember."

Endeavor's face went through a myriad of emotions, what Izuku feared to be arousal, to a sense of fear to seething anger.

"The one Miruko took down in mere seconds."

Her flames exploded, shifting from orange to blue in an instant. "You dare imply I was-"

"Oh, I'm not implying," he grunted, slowly taking a step over the coffee table in front of him, getting closer to her. "I'm stating for the record that you were useless."

Rei gasped in shock, attracting Eiji's attention to her, the hero trying to look over Izuku's shoulder to the woman "What are you looki-"

Izuku stepped to the side to block her view, that action alone causing the pro flinch "Are you seriously looking away after that almost got you killed last time?"

Shoko suppressed a laugh.

Eiji's eye twitched and her hand surged up to grasp at his collar. Attempting to lift him up off the ground.

Even with all the strength, she had achieved after years of training and hero work, she couldn't even budge Izuku. Straining uselessly against the fabric of his hospital gown as it stretched.

Izuku simply glared into her eyes, his hand grasping her wrist in an iron grip, that made her bones ache.

Eiji hated that her knees were growing weak, and the same heat spreading through her skin. Her previous dream was horribly erroneous.

He'd probably bend her over a table and-

A blush spread across her cheeks along with a new desperate need pulsed through her. Her hand twitching and letting go of him, he released his grip on her wrist in return "You- You…"

"Just stating the truth." he hissed back, taking the last step to look down on her just as he had in the sports festival. Her chest pressed against his.

And, for the first time in her life, Endeavour looked down in submission.

"Y-you're right."

Needless to say, no one expected that reaction out of her.

"S-sorry I'll just leave."

With that, she turned around, face a flustered mess, and almost ran out of the room, not giving anyone time to react.

Rei stood there baffled, her greatest abuser had just skittered away like a scared mouse. "Wha…"

Shoko nodded dumbly, mumbling a 'what the hell' of her own.

Izuku blinked, slowly turning around to face the other women in the room. "...Did not think that was gonna work- uh, can we go back to the baby pictures?"

Rei nodded, experiencing some whiplash at how much his tone had changed, growing soft and gentle in an instant. The contrast was making her head spin in a delightful way she didn't even expect, a warm feeling spreading through her cheeks.

Izuku meekly returned to his spot smiling gently the full way through, calming her mind yet exciting her heart.

* * *

She didn't know how it had happened.

Eiji sank into the seat of her limousine, running the last few minutes back. He had butted heads with her yet again… but this time she…

She had retreated.

She hated that she had run away from him like that but…

She reached and touched her warm cheeks. It had felt good. To submit to him.

The image of him… using her replayed in her mind, her thighs twitching closed at the thought. She didn't suppress the moan that came out of her at the idea. The driver couldn't hear her anyway.

She had seen him lift things heavier than her- break that glacier like it was nothing. He could've probably lifted her off the ground… or hold her arms down… force her legs apar-

She moaned again, a hand groping her thigh as it rubbed against her other one as heat started to pool south.

She gasped heavily, the new fantasy spreading through her brain like an infection, her hand reaching down to her core.

She panted as she had never done so before, desperate need spiking harder.

She needed to get home.

She needed to act on this new urge.

* * *

Ochako messed with her skirt as the train made its way to Hosu. The tracks had been damaged during the Noumu attack and it had taken until now to get the lines up and running again.

She was honestly blown away with how fast society could repair the damage done, even if it was the norm long before she was born. She huffed gently at the thought. _Maybe this is why my mom's company can't keep up…_

She shook her head trying to change where her thoughts were going, catching a glimpse of the ticket she held.

She really needed to thank Momo for the tickets, it was a shame she couldn't have come along herself with Nighteye denying her request for leave- _I should send her a selfie or something with Izuku… _

Her blush deepened as she imagined hugging into his side to get a picture with the two of them, smiling goofily for the camera- maybe his hand would be on her waist… maybe lower…

Her logical side knew Izuku wouldn't do that- but she loved the idea of him being that comfortable touching her, she shuddered a bit, breath catching in her throat at the memory of what they had _done_ before the internships.

Her skin grew hot and her thighs rubbed against each other, the unmistakable feeling of emptiness flaring to life within her. _Ugh- really? _She chided herself disappointed at what she was feeling. Izuku was probably hurt and here she was feeling horny…

_M-maybe he wants to finish what we started? _A part of her mused before she shook the thought off, eyes landing on the window of the bullet train

She watched the cityscape rush by in the window humming gently. _I need to thank Gunhead again after this…_

* * *

Izuku hummed softly as he made his way back into his room at the hospital after spending the full day with Rei and Shoko who had decided to take a nap after all the excitement.

He had ducked his head into Katsumi and Tomoyo's room, to see Manual and Best Jeanist lecturing them both about something, so he had moved on to return to his own room.

Turns out, he was forced to remain there for another day due to a technicality in the hospital procedures. The director herself couldn't override the required observation time he had to sit through with wounds as 'severe' as his were.

Which had healed by the time he was out of Rei's room.

_"Is̞ your ͇h̳e̯aling͇ g͓etti̖ng ̝fast̠er͖ ͎o̼r͖ ̬i̯s̺ ̥i̳t ju̯st me?̹" _

_My stem cell reserves were recovering after USJ, guess I had enough to heal faster this time? _

_"M̨ak̤es̮ se̗nse…" _Nana mumbled lounging on a chair.

_When did you even-_

_"J͈us̯t̤ ̘no̤w- di̤d͖n͙'̝t͕ ̯knọw͔ ͅwͅh̙y̯ ͈I̫ d̹id͓n'͓t̞ ̠t̠hi͎nk of ͕it befo̗re…̝ ̹Ḭ ̣can̟ g̱e̜ner̫at̪e̳ a sk̝y̯lin͈e,̗ ̺so ̫it̥ on̤ly m͚akes̜ ̣se͙nse ͉I̧ c̲o̦u̺ld̫ g̬e̬ṇe͍r͕a̢te ̤fur͢nͅi̠t̙u̹rḙ."_

_I- yeah thats right but-_

_"W̜o̖n̪der ̘i̦f̼ I̹ ̪c̲ou͜l͟d̩…" _She smirked in a lewd way that sent a shudder down his spine. _"Generat̼e s̤o̜me͜th͉in̝g͖ el̦se͔ t̙o͙ si͇t ̨on̖." _

_...If you do that I will personally come in there to kick your ass_

_"O̖r̤ ̟yo̪u could̲ do̙ ̣s̱o̧me̡t̢h̭i̤nͅg ̞e̩l̰s̫e ̩wi̹t͉h͜ my ̢as̟s̭~"_

Izuku shuddered; _Ok why are you turned on this time._

_"You're not gonna like my answer." _

_...when have I ever liked your answer?_

_"F̨aịṛ.̳"_

He finally made it to his room, sliding the door closed behind him. _So? _

_"E͎i̬j̘i͟."͖_

_Goddammit._

_"Lo̦ok! S̼h͍e ̺is ̦h̝o͎t!̞ ͜A͓lso…͢" _he felt her hand cress his thigh in the ethereal way only she ever could. _"I ͓fo͟r o͜nę lo͚v͓e͕ ̦t̨h͉e ͎ima̤g̞e of̹ yo͉u…͕ ̳ ̱d̞om̼i̗naţin͈g ̝h̭e͔r͈~" _

He shuddered _Nope not happening, never._

_"Ç'moo͔oo͜on~͉ ̞ju̖s͟t p͢us̘h͟i̪n̺g ̲h͖er ͖d͈o̮wn…̭ s̫how͙iņg ͔th̭at̲ ̨b̙i̗t̟c̠h hḛr̗ ͕p̘la̦ce̱~" _She ghosted a hand over his chest. "_H͕olding͕ he͟r in̯ ̗p͚lace ͅand͔ u͓s̖ing ̬he̫r ḻi̱ke ̡a̧n ͚o͖bj̖ect~̥"͍_

_… _he sighed laying on his bed. _As fun as you make the concept sound, not interested._

_"D̳id y͟ou no̜t̰ not̪ice ho̫w i̻n̙to̫ i̻t͍ ̖sḩe wa͕s̱?̙" _

_Exactly the reason why I'm not into it._

She huffed with a pout. _"Da̡m̼n͈ ̪s̩u̧b."̬_

_I'm a switch and YOU of all people know it._

_"T̫h͔e̼n ̺why-"̘_

_...Nana get your head out of the gutter for a second and remember who you are talking about._

_"..̫."_

Izuku's eyebrow raised up slowly.

_"W̧o̠u͙l̺d͎ ̺y͖o̧u̪ ̙beli̟ev̱e͎ ͜I ̧w̠a̢s ̫t̫urn̙e̻d͢ oṋ ̠e͇ṇǫu͔gh ͅto ̩f̰org͍e͉t̫ w̞ẖo ͜En͟dea̹v͉ou̳r̯ wa̖s? Othe̘r͎ ̧th̟a͔n a̩ ̻h͢ot̯ ͅw̳o̻man̺, of̺ ͢c̹o̞u̢rse."̺_

_I hoped that was the reason, and not that you had a sick fetish for assholes. _He mumbled, rolling to his side.

"Hm…̼ t̤he͖n…_ " _he felt a pressure against his abs sneaking lower. _"W͉h̘at ͔a̩b̞o̦u͚t ̮Miruk̻o̖?" _

The image of her forced against the wall shot through his mind. One leg forced over his shoulder while the other desperately trying to touch the ground with the tips of her toes. Panting heavily and blushing like a mess, her cute ears flopped down in pure-

He felt himself twitch-

_St-stop that…_

"_Oͅr… ͎h͎o̗w͙ a͈bo͟uṯ me̲~?_ _" _She cooed the feeling of her nibbling on his ear ghosting through his senses. _"Ho͜w ̧about ͜y̞ou͕ ̹ho̼p ̠in̫ ̢h̭e͎re̜ and ̪take̢ ͙ca͉r͉e ̢o̞f͟ ̱b̙ot̳h ͉of ̲ouͅr͔…̠ ̫n͙ee͍d̜s?~̥"_

He felt himself twitch again. _N-no no that just… too weird- _

She huffed. _"F̫ine. g̦ue̪s̗s we ͙are b̢o͎t̮ḫ h̝or̝ny̤ me͜s̗s̟e̥s no̘w̗.̗ _" he could feel her pout. _"N͇ow ̡you̖ get ̜to ̪su̩f̺fer͉ ̗as̩ I ̖do̜-̫"̞_

* * *

**It's a shame but had to cut out most of the chapter for here as it got _extremely_ lewd if anyone of you wants to read this chapter in its full glory you should head to my Ao3 account and read it there**


	58. That your body and soul are mine

**A/N: ****Ok, before we even begin. I went through and changed some stuff around the sports festival, chap 27-40 during my one-month absence,**** you might get lost immediately if you do not read up on the changes. All of that being said, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

"Aizawa, Kan. My office please."

Aizawa huffed. _Of course; the mad children are gone so the rat's gonna bother me now. _

Kayama shot her a look as she didn't move from her spot in the teacher's lounge. "You know she's gonna keep announcing that until you go, right?"

"...Yeah, yeah," she groaned, getting up and shedding her sleeping bag, cracking her joints. _26 is too early to retire, right? _

_That wouldn't be logical. _

She huffed, walking towards Nozomi's office on the top floor.

_Why does she even have her office there, it's just a hassle for everyone involved…_

By the time she had gotten to the office, Kan was already there, arguing about something.

"I'm telling you, you can't just transfer her over! We are mid-way through the semester!"

"Kan," Nozomi muttered giving her that blank, animal-like stare that pierced through to her core. "What do you think is best for her?"

"I-" The bulkier woman sighed, her shoulders drooping. "You're right, I just don't want to tear her away from her friends."

"She'll be in the next dorms over, Kan, we aren't sending her to the next province over." Nozomi shrugged. "Besides, it'll make the two classes interact more; as they should."

"I suppose…"

"Is this transfer why you called me?" Aizawa huffed, leaning against one of the walls and squinting at the sunlight filtering through the large floor-to-ceiling windows behind Nozomi.

It was always weird that Nozomi spent time looking at the main courtyard of UA, which also happened to overlook most of the city.

"Yes exactly." Nozomi clapped, the weird patting her hands made echoing in the room. "1-B and 1-A are going to be exchanging one student."

"...Why? I thought you already made the classes perfectly balanced?" Aizawa huffed. "What's your logic?"

"I wasn't sure if you were going to expel students like you so love to do," Nozomi muttered spinning to stare out of the window. "And this student would've failed your hypocritical tests."

"Hypocritical?"

"The physical tests, Shiko." Kan sighed.

"You're against the practical exam but you keep using _that _as your own personal test," Nozomi clarified. "You choose to focus on the combat effectiveness of their quirks, just like the entrance exam that you detest so much."

"I-" Aizawa blinked. "Huh."

"...My shattering of your worldview aside," Nozomi muttered, sighing, "Intelli Saiko wouldn't have excelled in _your _practical examination, so I held off on adding her to your class until you saw what she could do."

She spun back. "I'm fairly certain you can and will teach her how you fight. _Without _any physical quirks."

Kan coughed. "And who will be joining my class in her stead?"

"You'll get Makaira Oijiro. I'm sure she'll adapt well, being as level-headed as she is. We'll have the transfer after the internships." Nozomi spun back around with a hardly held back cackle. "That's all. Good day."

Aizawa nodded blankly and turned around, leaving the room.

"...You know, I thought her crazy class was gonna break her, but I think you broke her first," Kan commented with a nervous chuckle.

"Someone needed to say it." Nozomi shrugged. "Sometimes humans just don't notice the errors in their logic just because it 'makes sense' at the given time."

"...Please don't refer to us as humans again?"

"Then don't call me a rat."

* * *

The morning light struck his eyes, pulling him back into the conscious world.

He could feel Nana mewling contently. _"Mor͕n̨iņg, ̣s̤t̘u̳d~͎" _

_Ah, right. You felt that too… _he grunted softly, looking down to see Ochako still in his lap, hugging him tightly in her sleep. _That was…_

_"I̲f yo͢u̻ s͓ay͇ an̨y̜thin̬g͙ l͉o̫wer͚ ̻t͚han m̹ind-bl͚owi̤ņg͕ I͉ ̺**wil͖l ͕**f͕i̦n̘d̰ a̪ w̨ay ̫t͇o ḅe͢at yͅou ͟up.͓" _

He chuckled weakly. _Awe-inspiring? But really, I thought this was supposed to get like… less intense; it keeps feeling like it's my first time…_

_"W͔el̟l̪ ̻ye͔ąh̳, ̳I k͎ee̬p ͕yo̝ur͓ b̤ra̧i͈n̯ f̳r̹om͖ ̠g̖ett̰in͚g̪ ̥u̹şe͎d ̙to it." _Nana breathed. _"Any̘ṱhi̩ng le̳ss̥ t͙ha͕n ṱhat͢ ̤wͅould̻n̩'̦t sat̟i̯sfy͖ me̦~̗"̡_

_Ah, I see. _

He blinked.

_I would say 'don't do it' but honestly, it feels good and I don't see a problem in resetting that every time. _

_"Ṟigḩt?̣!̘" _she whined. _"S̻t͎u̺pid ̦bio͢chemi͎st̳ry ͇a̬n̲d its ̳'adapta̠tio̦n̙'." _

Ochako mumbled as a ray of light hit her face, starting to wake her up too.

She attempted to move away from the piercing ray only to moan as pleasure spiked up through Izuku's spine.

They were still connected.

_"Heh̟ehe…͜" _Nana giggled. _"Sorr̭y,̹ ͎I ̯was su̗p̭pr̹essing t͖h̠e s͇t͇im͔ula̪tio̥n-̨ h͈e͚re~"_

* * *

**( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) Will Izuku fuck Ochako? will Mei walk in? find out in the next episode of- Ao3 release cause explicit smut is still banned here ****( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ****( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) **

* * *

He was late. Miruko grumbled, making her way to his hospital room.

He was late to get out of the hospital. Gran had just waved her off when she said Izuku should've been out already, telling her that she was getting too worried over nothing.

Old hag didn't know what she was talking about. She wasn't worried about him.

_Not at all. _

She stomped her foot down when she got to his door, a pout forming on her face and ears flopping down against her head.

_Ok, maybe I am a little worried about him. But only slightly! _

The scent of the hospital made her nose twitch. She hated hospitals. Didn't get why Izuku would spend one moment longer than he should.

Her hand touched the doorknob, pausing for a second.

Her pro-hero instincts flared, and something more primal rose up to match it too.

_That… smell- _

_He couldn't be…_

She slowly opened the door.

* * *

**( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ****( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) whoops being horny on main in FFN is still against the rules, sorry. ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°) **

* * *

"Fucking- Deku why are you-" Katsumi kicked the door open, pausing as the scent hit her nose.

It smelled like sweat.

And something that got her stomach to do a somersault in her chest. She couldn't put her finger on it, but her body damn well could.

She inhaled another lungful as Izuku proceeded to panic, the sound of the shower connected to his room roaring in the background. Feminine humming emanated through the room.

Her eyes landed on the man, in his hospital gown, sweaty and trying to get the sheets off his bed.

"...Who did you fucking fuck?" She whisper-screamed, taking a few angry stomps towards Izuku. "Some fucking nurse? I thought you were-"

He raised his hands defensively, waving them and trying to spit the name out as the shower stopped. and the door handle to the bathroom rattled. Ochako poked her head out from the doorway and smiled. "Hey Kacchan!"

_Did she just- _

Katsumi blushed, something between a snort and hiss escaping her mouth. "The _fuck, _Angel-face?"

"Oh, right you only let Deku call you that~" Ochako sing-songed, taking a few wet steps towards the two, only a towel that was too short for her body covering her. "Sorrrryyyyy~"

She gave her a goofy smirk that almost reached the pink spots on her cheeks.

"Deku," Katsumi mumbled, a little bit of fear in her voice as she slowly turned to face him. "...what did you do?"

"...Oh look the shower is free!" he pecked Katsumi on the lips, then Ochako. Who gripped at his hair; elongating what was supposed to be a quick peck into a passionate lip-lock that tested both of their lungs.

And with that, he disappeared into the bathroom— leaving Katsumi alone with Ochako.

The brunette sighed dreamily. "You know I thought Mei was exaggerating~ but he is…"

She shot Katsumi a playful smirk.

"You are gonna need a lot of determination."

Katsumi felt like she had been punched in the gut by All Might.

"Good thing quirks make people more flexible and our internal organs durable right?" She giggled like a school-girl, patting her on the shoulder. "Right?"

Katsumi breathed in with her nose, then breathed out through her mouth.

"I'm gonna _rock _his 2-meter world when we get back to the dorms."

"Thats the spirit!" Ochako giggled. "If I don't beat you to it~"

"Again~"

Katsumi growled. _You win this round Angel-face. _

* * *

Miruko and Izuku popped back up an hour after she was initially supposed to grab him. The hero reeking of sweat, her hair a mess. The man was clean with the exception of somewhat _wilder _hair, the tell-tale hints of lipstick on his face and jawline.

_Ah. _Gran hummed, nodding gently. _They finally got that over with. _

Miruko was avoiding eye-contact with Izuku, who was talking to her about how awesome her kick the previous night had been. She nodded along with gentle hums, not really listening, sneaking looks at his chest, his arms.

She almost clicked her tongue when she noticed her sneaking a look lower down his body.

_Never took her to be a shy one after something like _**_that_ **_. _She huffed, turning around and walking out the hospital, the two following in pursuit.

_At least now the sexual tension should fade._

* * *

**Sorry for the short(er) chapter. But you can experience it in its full glory in AO3- which I can't even link cause FFN will get pissy with me. **

**oh well; good luck on your smut-hunt. **

**(hint; it's still named Total Command on Ao3 too)**


	59. Mind tracing every syllable

"No, raise your hips up a little higher!" Miruko scolded, her hand rubbing against the small of his back and pushing it forward. "You gotta push in with your whole body or else it won't have enough impact!"

"Can-can we slow down for a second?" Izuku groaned, sweat dripping off his body as he panted. "We've been going at this for hours."

"No!" Miruko barked, slapping her hand against his naked back, causing him to flinch. "A few more rounds, I know you got it in you!"

He grunted, adjusting his pose to try getting back into the rhythm, the speed, and the force Rumi was demanding from him.

Honestly, he never thought Miruko, _THE _Miruko, would ask him to do something like this. He might have maybe dreamed of it in some of his most ambitious dreams, but he never thought this would be happening to him.

Honestly, his heart was beating out of his chest, and it wasn't just due to the physical tax on his body from doing this for so long.

_"W̪hͅat̰'̹s͔ ̥wron̜g,̭ L̩o͉v͖eṟbo͍y̗? H̦av͇ing ̬to͙o̳ ̼mͅuc̻h ̡fu͙n̥?" _Nana teased, her voice sultry and charged with passion. Guess she was still riding out the high from the earlier set he did with Ochako just that morning.

That had drained him already, but now Miruko was pulling even more out of him. It was scary, the fire in her eyes, how her eyebrows and nose twitched with every little movement he did...

She grumbled, pouting slightly at his falling stamina and slowing pace, before grabbing his ankles and flipping him.

His back hit the matted floors of the training area of the messy agency they had been stationed in, Miruko's strong grip locking him on the floor and his hips hovering just above.

Uncomfortable for sure, but he really didn't have the energy to argue against it. Not that he wanted to, this was something he wanted to do since the sports festival.

"You are doing it all wrong!" She hissed her hand running down his calf to hook right under his knee, pushing it forward to give her access. "You are supposed to move your hips like this! Or you won't get any power behind it!"

He gulped, her scolding only pushing him further, giving him just a little bit of determination he needed to push himself further beyond.

_"Sh̲e is̗ blu͍sh̺i̮ng̥ a̦ l͜ot͙ t͍h̻ough͙… do ̬you thi̤ṋk̥ this i̞s͎ h͓e̥r fir͈st̻ ͙t͖ime?̼ S͈uch r̪ou̲g͜hͅne͟s̝ș i̙n iṱ ̣too̟~" _Nana cooed. _"C'̩mon̻ g͕iv̝e̹ the͎ ̲w̠o͇m͕a̰n͜ ͟what sh͓e wạnts~"_

Miruko pressed on, forcing his legs back higher, slamming against his hips, guiding them. "And if you don't angle your hips right you won't get anywhere."

"O-ok I think I got it" he wheezed, tapping the floor, the angle was crushing his ribcage. Nana was right this _was _Miruko's first time if she thought normal people could bend like that.

_"Mak̥e̪s yo͈uͅ w͟onde̤r͟ jṷst̢ ho͕w f̡ar̖ she̞ ͚c͙ạn b̞e̗nd,͇ d̬oes̥n̝'t ̗it?~"_

He shook his head. As hot as it was hearing her breathy voice against his neck at the hospital, now it felt like it was distracting him from Miruko.

"Ok," she let him go, allowing him to change position back. "Do it again."

His phone in the distance and long forgotten by now- pinged, breaking his concentration and messing up his pacing.

His foot slipped and his whole body spun out of balance, falling on top of Miruko and pinning her under his massive body.

For a second she looked up at him. Panting, breathless. Her chest heaving against his, the texture of her hero-suit more pleasant against his bare skin than he imagined it would be. Her crimson eyes were locked onto his, a blush growing on her brown cheeks, contrasting with the messy white hair all over the mat under her.

His hands were on both sides of her head caging her under him.

_I should get u-_

_"N͖o͚ ͜yo̜u̲ ͙sh͖o̜uld͟ k̖iss ͉her̭ ri̱g̳h̯t̖ n̠ow,͕ ̠a͉re ̖y̗o̺u ͍kidḓi̝ngͅ?̙!͓"_

It was honestly distressing to feel just how much power Nana had gotten in his body, his head leaning down on its own accord.

Or maybe he wanted to do that too, and Nana's suggestion was just the push he needed.

Miruko whimpered gently, her hands snaking up to cup his cheeks. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know."

"**OK** YOU HORNY TEENAGERS!"

The sudden yell by gran knocked Izuku out of his trance, built-in reflexes kicking in as he almost backflipped away from Miruko, panting at the sudden exertion.

"You TOLD me that you were gonna teach him your _kick _Strumpet" Gran barked, Miruko grumbling and getting off the floor herself. "Why the fuck are you making out with him on the training room floor? Why is he _shirtless?"_

"Uh- the top half of my costume is in for repairs, it's stretch-fitted so I can't really wear it with the… holes it has now." He explained, Miruko huffing and letting him explain it.

"And, the ground thing? He slipped. Got his footing wrong _again. _" She shot him a look that was full of disappointment, but…

It felt off.

Maybe it was the massive blush she had that was clouding his judgment.

"S-sorry, my phone pinged and that threw me off-" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

Gran grumbled. "Why do you even have your phone on?"

"Nozomi doesn't want me to turn it off…" he muttered picking up the device. "I don't know if it's ease of contact or something else; when I asked she just laughed."

"That rodent just creeps me out…" both heroes grumbled at the same time.

Miruko huffed. "What was it about anyway?"

"Unknown numbe… Oh, it's Itsuka-" he mumbled, pulling his phone closer to read. "Wonder where she got my phone number… would you mind if I took this?"

Miruko huffed and gave a shrug, Gran just muttered a 'go-ahead'.

He nodded and made his way to the changing rooms leaving the two there.

"Wasn't the round in the hospital enough?" Gran huffed accusatorily the moment Izuku closed the door behind him.

"Wha- " Miruko turned to the older hero, face suddenly turning to a neon red. "What are you talking about?"

"Fucking him in the hospital? Wasn't it enough you horny bunny?"

Miruko made a strangled sound, her ears twitching before she bounced out of the room with a single leap.

"...Damn the young ones are shy, huh?" Gran commented before making her way back into the kitchen for some taiyaki away from all the hormonal bullshit.

* * *

Miruko leaned on the door the moment she got it closed behind her, cupping her face with her hands before locking the door, jumping into her bed, stuffing her face in her pillow, and _screaming. _

_He was so close! He almost- _she gulped, remembering how he looked when she was looking up at him, his green eyes determined but glazed over with something new as he leaned down- _he almost- _

_He almost kissed me! _Her heart did another backflip in her chest, thumping against her ribcage like her foot thumped on the floor:

Strong, fast and earth shuddering.

She screamed again, her voice muffled by the pillow. Her mind waded through every instance of her touching him during the training, how she had flipped him to his back-

How he had looked up to her when she was showing him where his hips were supposed to go.

_Fuck._

She had promised herself that she would ask him- _no _**demand** him to do to her what he had done to that brunette.

...Or just suggest it- she wouldn't force him to do that…

But whenever they were alone she couldn't. Every time she tried her mouth would freeze-up and her heart would almost beat out of her chest again, her cheeks reddening at the mere concept of him accepting.

It wasn't fear of rejection stopping her, rather it was the fear of him accepting.

Or maybe it was her fear of the sheer depth of her feelings towards him and how quickly they had developed. How she wanted to spend time with him, cuddle him…

She wanted to feel his arms wrapped around her body, hugging her close, pushing her head against his chest.

Or maybe lifting her off the ground with his arms and kissing her lips gently like he had almost done on that mat. His green eyes looking into hers with love and adoration…

Her whole body shivered in response to the fantasy, a whine escaping her lips.

_God- why do I want that! I just want him to- to…_

She imagined him doing whatever he wanted to her, leaving her pregnant. Looking after their kids together.

How he would laugh and cook for her... smile at her after they completed a mission as pro heroes... how they'd fall asleep in each other's arms.

Her cheeks flushed again.

_Oh… _

_Oh no…_

* * *

Izuku closed the door to the changing rooms and hissed a bit, stomping his legs down onto the floor to get some feeling in them.

Miruko had pushed him harder than he had ever been pushed before and his whole body was aching.

_Then again most of it is because of what I did earlier… _

_"Y̬e͔a͈h, **O̠c͎ha̫ko** f̺ųcḵi̜ng ͜y̦ouṟ b̹rains ou̬t ̨sh̤ọuld h͟av͕e th͚a͔t̜ ̗im̫p̙ac͖t̮~͢ __" _Nana chirped, the feeling of her bust pressing against his shoulder cascading through his senses like poison through his veins.

_Shu- shut up! _He grumbled, turning his attention back to the text from Kendo.

_"A͎nd̮ ̥th͢en ̝M̤i̺r͖uk͔o l͙oo̹ked̩ a̠t̪ ̞y̪ou w͟ith̯ ṯh͚ose̡ ̥'̳f̰uͅc̟k̮ ̧me̼'͎ ̟ey̠e̘s~ ͇you s͜h͙o͍u̦ld'̗v̟e ͇j͇us̟t̨ k̠is̝sed͓ her̫ ̱t͎oo͕,̢"̢ _Nana teased, her hand rubbing over his chest. _"I͕ ̝know y̯o̗u w̻ant̟ed to…" _She bit into his ear softly. "I̪ ͉can f̪e̤el ̞i̫tͅ~ _" _

He shuddered, then severed the connection to her from his side, the neural pathways between him and her suddenly going silent, leaving him alone in his head for the first time in a long time.

_God- she is something else when she gets sex-high like that..._

It felt weird not having her comment on that.

With that, he was _actually _free to turn his attention to the text from Kendo.

'Hey, Izuku!-I can call you that right?-anyway it's Kendo, Vlad gave me your number to inform you about a class exchange going on. Can you call me when you're free?'

_… Guess this is a good a time as any…_

He added her contact to his phone and pressed the call icon

"Ah! Izuku, you were fast, hows the internships going?"

He paused and coughed a little. "Not, bad… still alive at least"

"Oh crap, what am I talking about- you took down Stain! I saw the video. Nice headbutt, by the way."

"Aizawa always told me to use my head…" he chuckled awkwardly as she giggled on the other side. "How about you?"

" Uwabami was a bad call, most of my time here was spent on a hair product commercial. " she almost sounded whiny, _it's cute hearing her whine like that when she is always so composed and mature…_

"Ha-ha, " Kendo deadpanned, " glad to hear you think I'm cute. "

"I hate when I do that…" he groaned back. "But did you learn anything while doing the commercial at least?"

" Yeah, I did! Let me show you. " His phone beeped as she sent him a video. " This is actually not supposed to be seen before the ad drops in TV in a month but, I'm pretty sure you have better stuff to do than to spread this around sooooooooooo…"

Izuku chuckled and played the video.

Uwabami was introducing a new haircare product, kiting her hand through her hair before swinging it to the side for a beauty shot. The shot panned out as she announced more details of the product, then said its slogan, whipping her hair out along with Kendo in the background doing the same motions and pose.

"Huh- what did that teach you anyway?"

"That Pro-heroes are way more beautiful in person than you thought," Kendo mumbled, " look how much better Uwabami looks compared to me- it was _much _worse in person."

"Really?" Izuku mumbled, playing the video back. "I thought the contrast with your costume; orange hair and the fact that you're beautiful made you stand out. No contest."

The line was silent for a second. _Ah shit, I talked too much…_

" Hahaha- that's funny Izuku, " Kendo mumbled, her voice a little flustered. " But-uh, yeah I wanted to talk about that transfer-"

_"Wo̱w̯,̘ ̠I ̜can͍ ͢ẖea̖r ͓ẖe̙r ̬b̘l̗ųs̯h͍,̮ ͉g̠ood͙ ͈g̝o̻in̜g̫ ͕s̡tu͎d."_

_How did you- nevermind, just behave- _

"Yeah about that, what is that even about?" Izuku coughed, trying to break the tense atmosphere he had unintentionally created. "Who's transferring? Where?"

" Woah, Woah one thing at a time big guy. " Kendo chuckled, the tenseness fading. " I think Ojirou? From your class, and Saiko from ours. "

"They're swapping? Why?"

" Vlad told me Aizawa could teach Saiko better than her, considering her quirk. " Kendo paused, and Izuku could almost feel her shrug. " Dunno why they hadn't just have her in your class to start with, "

"Nozomi's fuckery I suppose," Izuku huffed. Kendo broke out in a fit of laughter from the other side that he couldn't help but smile at.

"I'll swing by and help Saiko move into our dorms when the internships are over," he added, "would that be ok?"

" Yeah! Sure, just don't let Monoma see you, she has rabies. "

"I'll… do that yes, see you then."

"Mhm! Good luck with the rest of your internships."

"You too."

And with that, he ended the call.

His phone pinged again, this time a message from Ochako.

'Thinking of you~ also Ow my legs still ache.'

'Me too' he texted back.

'Cheeky 3'

He chuckled at her response, then almost stowed his phone away.

_I should really call Momo and tell her too, huh?_

* * *

Momo attempted again, looking straight at madam as she tossed the ball at her.

The ball hit the plating she managed to generate out of her thigh, cracking against the plate before falling to the side, rolling away from her and to the corner.

She sighed and stood back up, shedding the metal plate she had created, the material that had been previously jutting out from her leg almost like an extended knee-guard clattering on the floor.

"I still don't get it," she groaned for a moment before her body flinched, ducking under a haymaker from Mira that almost connected into the back of her head.

The blonde chuckled. "You don't need to, your body seems to be picking up on it."

"Quite," Madam mumbled as she fixed her glasses. "It's simple really; every human gives off hidden tells such as the moments before we move and as we lie."

"You can't dash forward before you tense your leg, you can't punch before your shoulder moves into place," Mira elaborated, tapping her own forehead quickly. "Simple anatomy."

"Yes I get that- but how does-"

Madam cleared her throat. "Simple; it takes time for the brain to send the signal down to a limb, longer than it is to get that signal if you are trained to notice it." She walked up and tapped Momo's forehead. "Your brain has the capacity to notice everything inside a room of this size, eyes keen enough to see any twitch."

"And when you can notice the opponents motions even before they can do them;" Mira grinned "Then you can whoop their ass."

"So you're telling me this is all observation? That's the trick?" Momo muttered still having trouble understanding it. "But then how can you get 3 steps ahead?"

"You must walk before you run," Madam chastised. "But if you must know, if you start reading the person's intent before they act on it, then you can start gaining the upper hand."

She pocketed both her hands and looked to the ceiling. "And after you do that enough you'll slowly start noticing patterns, in your opponent, in villains, even humanity as a whole."

"Huh…"

Mira chuckled. "Think of it this way, we all share the same instincts, and in a fight, it's mostly instincts when it's close combat like this." She rubbed under her nose with a smirk. "If you start being able to understand those instincts you'll start getting steps ahead of anyone."

"Ah- that makes sense…" Momo mumbled, pulling out a separate notebook and jotting down some notes. "Shall we try again?"

"No, no." Madam shook her hand, walking away. "You've done enough for today, take a rest and mull over the teachings again." She shot a rare smile. "Your subconscious is getting better at picking up tells; good job Creati."

"Thank you!"

* * *

She sighed in the changing rooms, Mira had gone out for patrol so she was alone in the massive locker room.

_Izuku was right… If I manage to pick that skill up I'll get yar-_

Her train of thought screeched to a halt as her phone buzzed on the bench, on the pile with her hero suit.

She picked it up eagerly when she saw it was Izuku calling.

"Izuku! Hi, are you doing alright? I saw the news! Is Iida alright too?"

Her cheeks grew red when he answered with a chuckle. " Love you too Momo. "

"S-sorry I guess I was just worried," she muttered back, playing with the tips of her loose hair. "I'm guessing everything is ok?"

"Mhm, peachy. Would've made contact sooner but Miruko wanted me to learn her technique- and well the hospital visit. Everyone is fine."

She let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. "That's good, that's great."

She paused. "...you aren't lying and hiding how bad you are hurt are you?"

"Nope. Promise. But, I do have something else to tell you; we're getting a transfer."

"Who?"

" Saiko Intelli "

"The tall girl!? Wh- oh cause of her quirk, right?"

He laughed from the other side _God _she had missed that sound. " Exactly, Ojirou is getting transferred over to 1-B instead. "

"Aw, I'm gonna miss her." Momo muttered.

" Did...did you know her that well? I didn't. "

"_ Oh thank god, I thought it was only me _." She mumbled, letting out another sigh. "If I'm being brutally honest, she was more invisible than Hakagure."

" Harsh, but not untrue, " he muttered from the other side. " I'll handle her moving in and getting accustomed to our dorms, can you handle informing our classmates? "

"I'll drop it on our group chat, sure; see you at the end of the week?"

" Wait, what group? "

Momo froze, noticing that she almost exposed the _Midoriya Appreciation Club _to the one person that absolutely could _not _know about it.

"Oh,itsnothing,Igottago,madamwantstotrain more,byeIzukuloveyou!" she managed to sputter out without biting her tongue, hanging up on him.

_ Why am I this bad at hiding things?_


	60. I need you, and that's what scares me

"Again."

Izuku kicked off the ground and spun in the air, axe-kicking down with deadly force behind his leg, a sonic boom shaking the lights of the training room of the small agency.

He landed, panting and gripping onto his knees. That was the tenth Kaguya-crescent he had attempted in a row, and his legs—his whole lower body—was screaming from torn muscles and lactic acid build-up. Honestly, he was surprised he could still stand.

_"Gue̙ss̥ s͎h̹ḙ'll̫ ͚ẉrin͖g ͉y͚o̝u d͎r̘y̝ i͔f͓ ͈you let̩ ͉h͈e͈r̰."_

_Shut. Up…_

"Again," Miruko ordered, stomping the ground with her powerful legs. "You didn't get the contrails; it's not fast enough."

He panted, looking into her crimson eyes. "I… don't think I can do it that fast."

"Not with that attitude you can't. Try again." She was ordering him around like a drill sergeant. "This is the last day of it, and I won't allow you to go out there with your imitation if it's not perfect."

"But-" he panted, legs finally giving under him as he fell on his ass, hissing with pain. "I need a break, I can't do anymore- I will snap something if I try again." he looked down, hissing with defeat. "I'm sorry I couldn't pick it up…"

Her nose twitched, and her hand found its way on top of his head, a blush forming on her face as she gently ran her fingers through his soft, iridescent locks.

It was fluffier and softer than she could ever imagine.

"I-its fine, we can try again later tonight- wanna go on a patrol to…" she hated how bashful she was feeling but she couldn't help it. "Grab something to eat? My treat, for working so hard for so long."

A content hum escaped his lips before he could stop it, leaning into her touch involuntarily "...If you are sure…"

* * *

Rumi tried to let the rapidly warming spring air calm her spirits, but considering Izuku was just behind her, it wasn't working. It didn't help that because of the fact his normal costume top was shredded to ribbons, he was forced to patrol in one of his workout shirts.

One of his very tight, very thin workout shirts.

This was doing the opposite of clearing her mind. Instead, all she could think about was how nice it would feel to be completely wrapped up in the embrace those strong arms would provide.

_Dammit! This isn't fair! I've barely known the guy two weeks and I'm all mushy and shit? What is this!?_

She hazarded a glance over her shoulder where Izuku was walking behind her. The helmet thingy that he wore was secured over his face, concealing his identity for the most part. Though based on some of the lingering looks he was receiving from women on the street, the mask wasn't doing enough, especially with that damn video from the other night leaking.

It felt like her own presence was doing more to keep him from being swarmed by fans, the women recognizing him not approaching him after they got a look at her.

_What- do I look mad or some-_

**"Everything alright?"** he asked, making Rumi jump a little bit. She still wasn't used to the voice modulator distorting his voice in the helmet.

"Yeah, fine, just bored I guess." She slowed to a stop, mulling over her internal debate. It was the last day of internships, she and Izuku had been training almost nonstop since he got back from the hospital, and she _still _hadn't confronted him about what she had witnessed **or** her frighteningly strong feelings for him that had developed quicker than she ever could have anticipated. All that was remaining was for her to just woman up and do _something!_

Izuku drummed the tips of his gloved fingers on the back of his helmet in an adorable imitation of his usual head-scratching that Rumi found endearing in a way that drove her insane. **"We could always just grab some lunch? Things ****_are_ ****pretty quiet out here, but I guess that's to be expected since we took Stain down. More than likely criminals are reeling just as much as the heroes."**

"Yeah, yeah, lunch sounds good."

Izuku's electric eyes seemed to flicker with happiness. "Should we go back to our spot on the roof?"

_Our spot. _Rumi groaned internally. He was going to kill her.

"S-sure, let's go hit up our spot."

* * *

The sandwich in her hands felt too big, too filling for the nervousness that was floating around and filling her stomach.

Izuku looked out into the skyline. He had his helmet back off and both gauntlets sitting off to the side, munching on another sandwich. The shop owner had practically given her full stock to him for free- and refused money when the two of them tried to pay.

It was annoying that every sandwich wrapper had the owner's phone number written in bold handwriting.

She clenched her teeth, noticing the hearts drawn on one of them and 'call me if you wanna have some fun' scribbled under the phone number. Her annoyance turned into a blood-boiling rage in an instant, her eye twitching.

Then just like that, it faded when she noticed him crumple up and toss the wrappers into the plastic bag they used as a mock trash can.

_Why didn't I feel like this at the hospital?_

"Miruko?" his cautious tone dragged her back into reality, away from her thoughts "Are you okay? You've hardly touched your food."

_I should just say it..._

"Sorry, just got a lot on my mind." Not technically a lie, but still not what she wanted to say.

The man wiped at some crumbs on his chin. "Wanna talk about it?"

Did she!? It was tearing at her insides, wanting to say it. After all, this was possibly her last chance to just suck it up and either confront him or confess. So what was stopping her!?

Besides the fact that she hardly knew him… and that he clearly had a girlfriend… and…

_Say it._

"Nah, it's okay." She paused, her mouth opened up again ready to contradict herself, to just confess and get it over with.

Her heart clenched, and her will failed, a sigh escaping her lips instead. "Thanks, Izuku."

He frowned, detecting her inner turmoil in her voice. "If you say so, I won't bug you about it. I know that I'm your intern and you're a pro hero, but if you ever wanna talk you can let me know, okay?"

Maybe she wanted him to push it. Show her that he wanted her.

Show that almost-kiss in the training hall was more intentional than something he almost did in the heat of the moment.

She snorted. _Like that would happen _. "Playing shrink for me now?"

"N-no! Nothing like that." God his blush was adorable, made her wanna pet his head all over again. "Just want to help, guess I can't really stop my mouth sometimes. Sorry if I overstepped."

With a chuckle, Rumi felt some of the heaviness in her chest lighten up and she took a small bite of the cucumber sandwich. "It's alright, I'm only kidding. Keep that generous attitude of yours, okay? I've never been… great with the interpersonal BS that comes with being a hero, but it seems to come naturally to you." She locked eyes with him, staring deep into those pools of verdant green. "You're going to be an amazing hero, Deku. One I wouldn't mind teaming up with in the future."

It was risky and maybe laden behind a bit too much coding, but she hoped he understood.

_I care about you and have grown so incredibly fond of you to the point that I think I'm falling for you faster than I can stop myself. I want to see more of you in the future and maybe see if this can go somewhere._

Of course, she knew he was too oblivious for that, but at least for now it would have to do.

"T-teaming up?"

Predictably, because she knew just how emotional he was, Izuku's eyes began shimmering, his voice cracking gently. "Thank you, Miruko. That… that means a lot coming from you."

Her heart clenched. Maybe… maybe he had read into it just enough…

Her heart hammered just a bit harder in her chest, as she covered the rising blush on her cheeks with the sandwich wrapper around her sandwich, taking another bite out of it.

"Any time, Izuku."

* * *

_So…_

_This is the last night._

Miruko groaned, looking up at the white ceiling of the agency, sleep avoiding her like the plague. She grunted and rolled over, trying to relax in bed, attempting to chase down that sweet unconsciousness.

Her eyes locked onto the sleeping form of Izuku, his chest rising and falling as he slumbered, soft snores escaping his lips.

He had managed to do it by the end. To copy the move perfectly, contrails and all.

Seeing him copy her, lighting cracking around him, green eyes glowing with determination...

It was doing things to her. Things she hated, things that made her regret not taking the plunge.

And now, she wouldn't have that chance again.

She grumbled and got out of bed, silently making her way out of-

She stopped and turned around, lingering over his bedside, looming over him in the loose T-shirt she had worn for bed. Her ears were flat against her head, her own hair tickling the sensitive cartilage.

She hated that she had a physical reaction to what she was feeling, it was making it harder to ignore, to bury it deep down into her heart; back to where it came from.

But she couldn't. And she hated it.

_Mushy piece of shit… _she hissed, her hand gently getting the hair out of his eyes, heart skipping a beat when he smiled contently in his sleep.

_…_

She sighed. _Only one thing left to do. _

* * *

He woke up slowly, blinking and staring at the off-white ceiling. It had grown familiar in the week he had spent in the agency, and he had slight nostalgia at the thought that he was going to move out of the place, leaving it behind.

_"S͓ad̥ ̲to̱ thi̯n̠k̰ ̨th̨at ̢i̟s̡n͚'t̯ įt?̡"͕_

_Yeah… _he mumbled to himself, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes. _Besides, it will be the last day I get to be around Miruko, I'm gonna- _

His eye landed on her bed, already made with a note on top of it. No trace of her nor her belongings in sight.

_Miss her… _

He sighed, getting up slowly to look at the note left behind.

'My fumigation was done and I couldn't sleep.'

_"Well… ̮s͓ḩe̩ ̺d͈i̹d ̲sąy s̮he̬ ̡w͇aͅs bad͎ with inter̗p͚erͅson͎a̜l͈ ̭ŗel͓at͈ionsh̺i̡p̤s͕…̩"_

He smiled sadly and pocketed the note. He knew this week was gonna be over eventually.

He knew this was just gonna stop at one point, till the next internships. And it did.

_"He̫y,̗ ̗a͉t le̠aͅs͎ṯ ̗s͙he̜ t̩ol̩d̹ ̻you̺ ̦t͚ha̫t̮ ̠shͅḙ ̰wo͖u͓ld͙n͜'̨t̥ ̧mind ̮t͉eami͢n͓g ̮u̬p l̹ater̜?-̨ s͖h̩e ̗w̰anţs̼ t͓o͔ d̳o͢ ̼this̞ ̡a͎g̳ai̜n̥, ͍s͟o̲ ̨it'͜s̖ ̝fiṇę r̭i̖g͎ht?"_

_Yeah. Stings a bit still... but I'll be fine. _

_Besides, I need to help a new classmate to move in. _

Nana sighed, feeling his slight drop in mood through their connection, but didn't bring it up. If he didn't wanna face those emotions, she wouldn't force him to.

Besides, what was he gonna do? Think with his dick? Well, it was technically _their _dick now.

Nana chuckled in his head.

_What's up? _

_"No̜th̞i͜n̖g ̱j̬u̗st̬ ̨t̪hͅou͇gh̢t o̱f̯ ͖s̖om̗et̟hi͙n̯g ̫fu̢nny̥.̙"̬_

* * *

He almost tore the costume off himself again the moment he got to the dorms, the crossdressing aspect of going back and forth to UA never got easier.

Well, it did. But it was still uncomfortable. He didn't like dressing up and acting like a gender he simply wasn't, no matter how 'pretty' the other girls insisted he was.

"A̜nd how͓ m̝uch i̯t̫ s̢ṳits͢ y̧ǫu̪!~̹_ " _Nana teased, making him huff in annoyance.

_Would you enjoy walking around like a man for an entire 3-hour train-ride back? _

_"I͖ mean…̼ _" Nana coughed. "_I a̜m͟ **ḷi͚t͎e̢r̺al̖l̤y͙** a͈ w͖o̢mͅa͔n trappe͟d̨ inͅ a̭ man's͜ ̼body.̗"_

_Yeah, would you want anyone else to feel like that? _

_"You are̙ r̘i̳g̞ht̠ an̢d̲ ̡y̧ou ̢s͉h̪ould ̟s͢a̳y̢ ͙th͈a̞t̗.̦" _Nana shrugged. _"But ̥aḽs̤o you a̯r̟ę ̘w̞alk̭i͎ng a̪r͎ounḏ ͕s͚hi͇r̺t̥less ̯and wear̹inͅg͕ o̻nl̝y ͇bo͜o̤ty-͓sh͍or̦t̳s."_

_That I am. _He muttered taking a step out of the puffy skirt now pooled by his ankles. _I'm just glad I was wearing these under the skirt so I could take it off the moment I got here. _

_"Yeͅa̯h̻,ͅ th̤a̪ṭ ̭w͜as a̞ ͉goo̟d̬ ̗calḻ.͈" _Nana whistled "_pl̲us n̳o͔w̱ you ̮gḛt̲ to ̖sh͈ow ̼of̼f̥ ͔thͅa̪t̖ s͇w̨eḙt͜ ̞as͟s ̧o̳f y̤o͎u̘rs.̜_ _"_

_Do _**_NOT_ **_phrase it like that. _

His stomach rumbled and it gave him a moment of pause. At least for now, the dorms seemed empty. _Might as well see if anyone got groceries. _

He padded into the kitchen and found that, at the very least, someone got produce. Probably Koda.

_I'll have to make her something later to make up for sneaking some food. _

Lettuce? No.

Carrots? Too starchy, he was feeling something…

"Nice!" He quietly cheered, finding a bag of peaches in the mix. _Thank you, Koda. _

Quietly rinsing the fruit off, he took a grateful bite, sending _another _silent thank you to his soft-spoken classmate for picking fruit that was actually ripened.

"Nice ass, Green," Kyoka muttered, walking into the dorms behind him with a smirk on her face, only the red dusting on her cheeks betraying her smug attitude. "Guess you did a lot of squats?"

"Yeah, sure," he muttered, turning around to face her and sighing once more, looking defeated and in shock. "Good to see you Kyoka, how was your internship?" He took another bite of the peach, internally frowning at how his tongue seemed to linger on it longer than he was expecting.

"G-good," she almost squeaked, her eyes drawn to the way his lips seemed to kiss the glistening insides of the fruit. _Was he doing that on purpose?_

"S-should we be discussing this? Right now?" she shot back, fluster evident in her voice, and eyes having trouble staying on his slightly confused face, rather than to glide down over his body and the-

She gulped. Those shorts weren't hiding anything. _Mei wasn't fucking joking. _

"You are right." he smiled, seeming to give up on eating his snack for a moment, "give me a second to scream into my pillow and change."

He disappeared out of the common room.

_Did he get faster? _

* * *

_I hate you_

_"S͔he l͔ove͓d͚ ̻the show͓ ̖t͚h̦o̧ug̳ḩ~͜ ̥didn'̜ṱ y̤o̦u li̙ke how h̰e̝r ̩ey̪e̻s couldn't-"_

_Stop right there. _He grumbled opening the door to his room.

Only to fall back as Mei tackled him to the ground, giggling the full way down. "You're back! Finally!"

He laughed petting her head and snuggling closer to her, his mood immediately soaring at the long-missed contact. "I am!"

"I'm building solid-light holograms so we never feel that far apart ever again!" She exclaimed, peppering his face with kisses.

Honestly, he didn't want that if this was how she was gonna welcome him every time he went away for more than four days.

A soft cough got his attention, eyes moving away from the pink-haired ball of affection Mei was to the sight behind her, Momo and Ochako waiting with expectant smiles. Mei was wearing her usual attire so he hadn't paid her any attention to what she was wearing, but the other two; they took his breath away all over again.

Ochako in a crop-top of a coat that looked like the perfect blend of warm and comfy the pink and white fabric making her hair and eyes pop, and Momo in a thin white turtle-neck with her hair loose, two rivers of her shiny black hair on her shoulders, framing her face perfectly.

He couldn't help but fall for them all over again in that instant. And their looks, their looks made his knees weak.

Ochako's eyes shone with a hunger he could now recognize, while Momo looked somehow hungrier.

He got up slowly, basically picking up Mei and allowing her to attach herself to his shoulders and back, hanging on him like a koala as he made his way closer to the other two in his room, smiling ear to ear.

The moment he got to an arms-reach, Ochako couldn't hold back anymore, giggling and hugging his chest, tugging him down for a proper, long kiss on the lips, ruffling his hair. "Gosh, I missed ya~"

He chuckled, hugging her by her waist with one arm, picking her up and rubbing his nose against hers, leaving a soft kiss on her lips looking deep in her brown eyes with a content smile.

Momo coughed again, shooting a sideways glance at the three with a cute pout.

All three laughed, Izuku finally sitting next to her in bed, allowing the other two to slide onto the soft mattress. "Sorry to make you wait."

"You should be." she scoffed, a smile breaking onto her face even as she attempted to act offended, ruining the act. "I was patient with you, Midoriya, you better make it wor-"

He moved to kiss her, but she beat him to it, her lips locking onto his with the speed and passion of a lover separated for years, her arms around his neck, one hand on his hair pulling him deeper while another scratched his bareback needily, beckoning his body closer to hers, trying to close the gap between them.

He obliged with a hearty laugh against her lips, pinning her against the bed and closing what little distance their bodies had his skin melding against hers to the point where both of them forgot where one ended and the other began.

He pulled back, just enough to look into her eyes while their foreheads touched, panting against each other with love in their eyes.

"Was that it worth the wait?"

Momo giggled. "It certainly was a wait," she responded with mock indignation. "Making me wait all my life for that, how could you?"

He laughed, leaning down to kiss her again. "Then I should work on making that up to you right?"

"If you would be so kind to do that" she giggled, hugging him closer.

There was an undercurrent of something else in her voice, spine-tingling spark to her every word that thrummed with the hidden meaning that their reunion held. Being back together again meant just that; they were back together.

In person.

Judging by the warmth in Momo's cheeks and the needy, hungry way she chased after every bit of contact with not only his lips but every part of his body, he had some attending to do very soon.

_God, these women are going to be the death of me._

_"Oh̦o͎h̙oh̲o~̡" _Nana cackled. _"A͟re ̢y͔ou ̪**s̠e̞r̰i̳o͙usly̖** comͅplaini̩n̗g ̝about̙ having a̳ b̲unc̢h͙ ͉o͜f ̫hot ͎w̤om͟e̥n ͙w͕h͈ọ ͚n̮o̝ṯ o͙nly͖ l̯ov͈e̦ you ̜but ̝w͇a̺n̥t ţo jum̲p̠ y̥o̰ur b̧oͅn̹e̤s̻?͎"_

_L-look, it's not a complaint! Just an… observation!_

_"U̩h̤-huh, ͉s̤u̱r̜e̘ S̤we̻e͎t̗c͢he̗eͅks.̢ T͟e̥l̫l y̭ou wha̼ṭ ̪tḥo͉ug̳h,̪ ͖I̦ be͉t ͓y͉o͍u̖ f̙iͅve͇ ͅbuck̩s͔ t͙ḫa͈t͙ M̮om̩o̧ ̦is a d̫o̼m͔m̢e.̟"_

Izuku stifled his guffaw as he enjoyed his continued embrace with Momo. _You- I- You don't have money._

_"O̠h̟,ͅ I'̮m̝ ̰șu͖r̝e I'll ̣f͟i͍nd͔ ̲s̤o͓me ̻ot̞h̭er̬ ̬wa̲y͎ for̙ ͖y͇o̢ṳ t̳o r͢e̘p͍ay̬ ̡m̳e̦~̣"̟_

Well, that wasn't ominous. No Ma'am.

The moment and his thoughts were cut short as his door slammed open and Katsumi made her way into his room,

"You. Me. Sex. **_Now._ **_"_

He flipped to his back to see her, eyes kinda hazy and breathing picked up, wearing only a long white t-shirt at was more of a dress than anything else.

_"Oho͔, ͖I țh̠i̧n͙k̖ ͢th͔a̪ţ's͎ one ͅo̧f̤ y̟ou̘r͓s" _Nana giggled, as both of them noticed the black 'shirt' written on the white surface.

"Oh?" Mei's eternal smile twitched, getting somehow more primal, eyes getting hungrier. "We can have more sex right, Zuku?"

Ochako giggled, suddenly grabbing onto her shoulder and pushing herself against him till her breasts encompassed his arm, the soft texture he had tasted in the hospital room making itself known to his senses once more.

"Oh my, oh my" Momo mumbled, with a refined smile and sharpened eyes. "Guess we are all thinking the same thing, aren't we?" her tongue darted out to lick her lips as she gave a soft kiss against his neck, breathing against the sensitive area of skin with intent. "With your quirk, you should be able to keep up, right I~ zu~ ku?"

An involuntary shiver shot down his spine, a gasp escaping Izuku's lips as his lower body attempted to kick into gear.

He shut it down with Total command, groaning at the effort.

"Can- can we not? I really should help out the move-" he groaned, trying to backpedal out of the suddenly sexual encounter. "Please?"

Momo pouted but retreated. "You are right, as the class president… yeah, we don't have time for this." her eyes glinted. He could feel her become keenly aware of how much romantic she could make her first time.

_"O̻h͔, ͇oho͇hoho sh̜e ͟i̼s͇ ̲g͍o̙nͅna̯ ̫b̧re̺ak you̖ w̹he̺n̤ y̥ou͕ ̖let͇ ̧h̗e͈r." _Nana chortled.

Mei was, surprisingly the most docile one of them all, simply nodding and huffing lightly, mumbling something about 'maybe next time.'

"Aww, thought we could have just a little more 'us' time before classes again" Ochako mumbled with a giggle, giving his shoulder a kiss and decoupling from his arm.

Katsumi grumbled, groaned and made a sound that was like metal grinding against metal before she stomped forward and gave him a breath-stealing kiss on the lips, explosive impulsive and powerful as she was, as she straddled his chest, grinding against him gently throughout before she pulled back too, panting against his chest with a look that just screamed 'This isn't over yet.'

"Fine." she hissed, sitting up and poking his chest. "But, you owe me." she spelled out, poking him again and again with each word to emphasize.

He nodded sheepishly "ok."

* * *

He tugged at his workout shirt and knocked on Makaira's door, sighing happily that he had managed to make it without getting dragged into- well whatever the girls almost had him do.

_"You sh̠o̯u̩ld'v̢e͢ ̠ju̙st ̲went ̨a̧lon̦g̡ ̜w̡i͇t͟h̢ it,͔ w̙oul͚d̬'v̞e fel͟t̠ **rea̠ll̟y** g̙oo̘od͈~ __" _Nana tempted him.

_Yeah well, someone still needs to help with the move. _He hissed back

_And knowing UA, its gonna be a trial and a half. _


	61. Is it time for your confession?

"Ah, Midoriya," Makaira mumbled, moving to the side to let him into the now-bare room, all of her belongings already put in a stack of eight cardboard boxes. Plain and simple.

_"E̮ven ͅher ̨s̡t̠uf̭f ̙ịs ̻bori̘n̺g̥…" _Nana mumbled at the back of his head.

_...As opposed to what? Technicolor boxes? _

_"W̤o̗ul͜d'̗ve ̧bee̖n̰ ̮c̣ool̹…"̻ _

"Are you here to help?" the tailed woman asked, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, I kinda packed up already." She looked away ashamed. "I live pretty simply, so it was quick enough to pack up by myself.

He blinked. "I see, happy to hear that your packing was easy."

"Sorry…"

"It's fine?" he questioned, still lost about what even to say to her. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she muttered, picking up one of the smaller boxes. "Are you gonna go grab like a trolley for everything or-"

"Nah, I got it," Izuku mumbled, looking through his back pocket. He pulled out a disk Mei had lent him, clicking on a button at its base to cause it to hiss and release a good length of net from its sides; wrapping the rest of Makaira's belongings on it then clicking on the button again for the net to tighten around them, securing them together.

He knelt with his knees and picked up the load, heaving it over his shoulder with ease.

Makaira blinked.

"O-Oh."

* * *

"_ Kendo _," Neiro almost spat out. "What the _hell _were you thinking, allowing that _villain _from 1-A to step foot in our dorm? Is nothing sacred?"

"...Okay, Monoma," Itsuka huffed, her hands on her hips. "You really need to stop that '1-A is the devil spawn' rhetoric before one of them gets genuinely mad. Besides, we're exchanging classmates and if you _ever _make the transfer feel bad, I will personally send you to the shame corner."

Neiro gulped. "Noted."

Saiko hummed, taking another sip of her tea. "...It feels weird to say goodbye to you all."

"Don't say that!" Pony almost sobbed, clinging to the woman's side. "I-it sound like you are going to never see us again! You visit right?"

Saiko looked over at her shorter classmate with affection in her eyes, gently pulling her into a hug, making the girl who was speaking broken Japanese flinch, sobbing into her shoulder. "It's fine," Saiko cooed, petting Pony's head. "I'll visit, don't you worry."

"Like hell," Setsuna declared with a smirk. "We'll come over instead, you aren't getting rid of us that easily, you tall amazon."

Saiko smirked back. "Isn't that just pleonastic to say 'tall amazon'?"

Setsuna laughed. "Just say 'redundant' like the rest of us, warrior-scholar." She grew quiet, as did the rest of her classmates, the feeling of Saiko's upcoming departure washing over them. "It won't be the same without you, you know. I'm gonna miss you."

Saiko nodded softly, looking down on her tea, watching the ripples on its surface. "Yeah, I'm going to miss all of you too."

Kinoko sniffled lightly. "D-don't get all sentimental- you're gonna make me-"

A knock caused her to stop in her tracks, turning to the door.

Kendo was the first one to snap out of her sentimentality, registering who was probably knocking on their door. "Oh, it's probably those two! Komori, could you?"

Kinoko nodded, wiping her nose on her sleeve and answered the door, looking up to greet the man in question.

From her place, Izuku looked like a god, the sun shining behind him, casting his face in shadow, highlighting his body in a frankly awe-inspiring way.

Or drool-inducing, if Kinoko was to have a word; the previous down-trodden mood left her body as she appreciated the masculine form."Hi, Midoriya~"

"Oh! Hey Komori, thanks for getting the door," Izuku hummed, walking into the common room seeing the gathering around Saiko. "Oh, am I too early?"

Setsuna's top broke off from her waist, her shirt hanging loosely from her shoulders while her legs remained seated on the couch in the tights she was wearing. Her top rushed to greet Izuku, hugging his side, coyly tracing her fingers against his contracted bicep. "Welcome to the 1-B dorms, Izuku~"

He looked between her legs then her eyes. "Your quirk is amazing… Quantum entanglement, right?" he mumbled, breathing out with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"A gentleman _and _a scholar~" she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "But then here you are carrying a goddamn room on your shoulders, how about that."

"If you're done flirting," Itsuka huffed. An iota of jealousy in her voice as she stared down the floating half of her classmate. "Midoriya, you can put all of that down for now, we haven't packed Intelli just yet- and where is…"

He placed the mass of belongings down, "Ojiro? She should be…" He looked back to the door, as if his classmate was just going to materialize. "...She was right behind me, I swear-"

"Wait…" Setsuna looked to him. "Did you walk here from 1A? That's like two blocks away."

Izuku looked confused. "Yeah, I don-" Then the coin dropped. "Oh- Ohhhh, I need to go help her carry that box. I'll be right back!"

With that, he dashed out.

"...Honestly," Kendo huffed, "with his body why didn't he just carry her with everything else?"

"Okay, this is gonna be weird for me to say," Setsuna muttered, her torso re-connecting with her waist. "I'm sure he offered."

Saiko looked deeply offended. "And you think what, she declined?"

"I mean…" Setsuna shrugged. "Maybe the new girl is like Ibara and just rejected it?"

"Possibly…" Saiko murmured, still petting Pony who was sobbing against her shoulder. "I wish you luck in dealing with that."

"Lucky bitch," Setsuna smirked, "you get to be with the guy that inspired you, not to mention the hottest guy out there right now."

Saiko's blue-lavender eyes_ shined _. "Just part of my equation."

"Well, my equation involves showing up for 'tutoring' from you for the midterms," Setsuna laughed, causing Itsuka to sweat-drop.

"But you are the top of our class right under Sai-," she murmured with a sigh.

"Yeah, but _they _don't know that."

_"Why do I even bother sometimes?" _Itsuka massaged her brow, hissing out the words under her breath.

Although… there was merit in that plan. Maybe she could, too...

_Dammit, Itsuka. You need to be Class Rep and keep the thirst levels in here under control, not add to them. _

_Then again... It would be a good bonding exercise between the classes… _

"I'm here," Yui announced, dropping her backpack on the floor. "Is he still here? Did I miss him?"

Yui was panting, as if she had run all the way from the train station to the dorms, face flushed in an uncharacteristic red.

"I'm still here," Izuku mumbled, dropping off Makaira who looked… Itsuka couldn't put a finger on it. _Maybe hurt pride? _"Hello."

"Fuck me."

Izuku slowly looked down on the shorter woman, eyelids fluttering and head tilting a bit as he tried to process… _that. _

His mouth opened, then closed shut, still trying to process.

"After the move," he mumbled finally, moving away for a second.

He seemed to process what he just said as the whole dorm started screaming.

Neiro hissed with anger. "How dare you be so bold with one of my classmates, you brute of a vi-"

Yui's bag was thrown on the woman, enlarging mid-air and crashing into the blonde, pinning her against the sofa. All eyes landed on, Yui, visible anger on the normally stoic woman's face. "_ Do. Not. Ruin. This. For. Me. _"

Izuku's face just screamed 'what did I just sign up for'.

* * *

"_Oh̼-̥ ̧O̧h m͓y̮ ͍G̦-̮G̨o͉d,_" Nana wheezed in his head. _"She͔ w͖as̟ ̖so ̰__**ḥap̣p͚y̢!**__" ̦ _

_Nana, I swear to God- _

Nana burst into another fit of raucous laughter. If she had lungs she would've burst them at the rate she was going.

He groaned, eliciting the attention of both Saiko and Pony, who had decided that she too was going to help her move, the rest had decided to stay behind to greet and get to know Makaira.

"You still hung up about what you said?" the taller woman muttered, something in her voice feeling off… jealousy? Nah, couldn't be; that's not what jealousy sounded like...

"Yeah, I just blurted it out," he sighed, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "And now people here will think I'm some sort of a… what was the word for it back in the day?"

Pony tapped her chin. "'Douchenozzle'," she muttered, trying to find a way to translate. "Or- maybe 'fuckboi'?"

Izuku sputtered as Saiko laughed behind her hand. "Yeah, we were shocked when she swore, too." She patted the smaller American's head.

Pony mewled in delight at the contact, her eyes closing shut with a content smile. "You know what that mean?"

"Yeah," Izuku mumbled in clear English, then shrugged. "And, if I wanted to go that ancient with the terminology, yeah. I was scared I looked like a 'fuckboi'." He smiled a genuine smile after that, chuckling to himself.

Saiko paused, staring at his face for a second and biting her lip, looking away. "I…"

"Pony," she looked down to the blonde, "can you give us a second?"

"Mhm!" she padded towards Saiko's room, preparing to pack everything for her friend, but then paused to look up at Izuku. "Actually, can I… get a hug?"

Izuku paused, vision slowly creeping up to the girl that had just popped that question. Honestly, it was the first time someone had _asked _him something like that. It was…

_"Aw̜,͢ ͟s̱he̙ i̞s͈ ̣a̹d̡ora̝b͕ḻeͅ!̙" _Nana cooed.

Pony immediately looked distressed. "S-sorry, I guess that's a creepy thing to ask- I'll just"

Izuku silenced her with a hug, pulling her close to his chest and petting her head with one of his hands softly. "No, it's alright, thanks for helping out."

Pony made a soft 'eep' sound then melted into the contact, her arms wrapping around his waist and hugging him back in return, her deceitfully strong arms pulling around his waist tightly, then lifting him off the ground with a giggle, seemingly with ease.

She then let him down, smiled up at him brightly and dashed off to the room.

"She is… stronger than she looks," Izuku mumbled, a light dusting on his cheeks before turning to Saiko.

For the first time, he _really _got to look at her.

His eye reflexively went to her more than modest bust, used to the angle he usually had with others, before slowly going up, noticing her strong, yet still feminine shoulders in his peripherals as he looked up further. Eyes etching in the vision of her muscular neck into his mind, her lips, still red from the time she had bit into them just mere seconds ago.

It still blew him away that her lips were level with his eyes.

His eyes continued their journey up her body, each inch he moved up feeling longer than it had any right to be. He could only hope it was his mind playing tricks on his sense of time, rather than him staring at her for what felt like hours.

A monocle gleamed on her right eye, the lens and the golden frame glinting as the fluorescent lights hit them, blocking his view of one of those blue-lavender eyes of her, her paler hair framing the rest of her head, topped with a white artist's hat that fit well with her look, completing the picture the monocle had started.

"...Yeah?" he mumbled, blinking a bit as if to get the light out of his eyes "I mean- yeah?"

She bit her thumb looking away before sighing. "I- just don't know where to start, but I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me? For helping with the move?" Izuku muttered, waving his hand "It's really nothi-"

"No, not that" she mumbled, looking ashamed. "...Care to follow me for a second?"

* * *

He didn't think she was gonna lead them to the roof, but when he got there, he didn't really mind; he loved the way the wind caressed his skin, and added beauty to her hair as it flowed gracefully in the late-spring breeze.

"Here should be quiet enough,'' she huffed, looking out to the cityscape.

Needless to say, his mind went to his talk with Ochako.

That felt like years ago at this point.

She turned around with a huff, the loose, white button-up shirt she was wearing moving with the motion, giving him the barest glimpses of her lower stomach, her powerful muscles peeking out.

She was nowhere near the level of cut Eiko was, but it was noticeable compared to Momo who sustained a plumper figure he loved to bits.

_Stop messing with my hormones. _

Nana laughed. _"I̟'m ̻no͈t̰ ̖e͕ven̦ t̝o͚uching ̺any͚t͇h̡i̘ng̤ ̬t̮h̯is ti̭me̝" _

"You know…" Saiko started, looking at him, studying his biceps, his chest and down to his legs. "Last time I saw you, you weren't as… muscular."

"Maybe that's what inspired me."

"Wait- wait, inspired you, last time you saw me…?" Izuku tilted his head like a confused puppy.

"Surely, you can figure it out." Saiko muttered tapping her index finger over her mouth "I refuse to believe you wouldn't be able to…"

Izuku blinked. "Wait- the sludge villain incident? You saw me on the news?"

Saiko smiled. "Bingo. And I'm sure many others, too- but for me it meant… something special." She flexed her bicep slightly, the muscle bulging out enough to be noticeable on her arm. He could sense the pride she felt. "You see, a year ago—well, more than a year ago—I didn't have these, didn't dream of having any either. I was content with my… less than powerful body. Aiming to go to Seiai Academy, lean on my quirk to make me a hero."

Izuku's eyebrows furrowed, brain kicking into gear. "Seiai Academy? The university which aims to produce the best hero teams?"

"The one and the same," she admitted, sitting on the edge of the roof and crossing her legs, her short-shorts doing nothing to hide the muscles of her thighs, their definition making themselves known to Izuku as she bounced her knee a couple of times. "You figured out my quirk, it's not the most combat-effective one, I thought I would only be of use with coming up with tactics on the field."

"So, Seiai…" he mumbled rubbing his chin. "But, you were wrong, higher intellect—or rather faster processing—is what gave me my edge in many fights."

"So it did," she mumbled, cupping her chin and looking at him with half-lidded eyes. "But, even you must admit you couldn't win most of them if your body couldn't carry out what your brain came up with."

"...Oh," he hummed, nodding. "But how does that connect to-"

She snapped her fingers, getting off the edge and dusting off her behind. "Cause you inspired me. Back on that day when you dashed in, you showed us all what a man on a mission looked like."

"Before then, I never thought I could get my body to a state where it would make a difference, but you- you made one that day. Surrounded by heroes left and right, you the lone man was the one that burst through. You saved that girl, saved the day." Her hand found its way on his cheek, and he was suddenly aware of just how close she was, and how red his cheeks had gotten.

Maybe he was drinking in her body too much.

"That's the day I decided to change my goal, to chase after a dream I had long given up on. The dream for UA." He could feel her breath against his lips. "You were the spark I needed to start on that journey, and I need to thank you for it."

His hand got between their lips as she attempted to give him a kiss, her eyes opening slightly but seemingly unsurprised.

She pulled back after a few seconds looking down at him. "Sorry, can't blame me for that, can you?"

He was still blushing as he nodded looking away. "I- ...appreciate the feelings but- I can't, not before the rest give you an okay."

"You know they will," she whispered against his ear, her previous shyness seemingly melting away after she had opened up her heart for him to see. "I want you Izuku. And I will get you."

"Such is my formula."

* * *

"Sorry for being so forward," she mumbled as they made their way to her room. Izuku hummed in response.

The silence grew pregnant, Izuku not having the words to respond to her feelings, and Saiko wanting to go ahead and make him accept her.

He sighed at her door, as she opened it. "Sorry, I really don't know how to respond to that…"

"You could just bed m-"

She cut herself off as she saw the immaculately barren state of her room, Pony humming a tune as she packed the rest of her belongings. "Oh!"

She rushed to their side, her hooves clopping against the barren hardwood flooring excitedly. "You took so long!" Her face fell for a second "Hope you don't mind me packing everything… I was so bored and I saw the boxes all labeled..."

"It's fine, Pony! Thank you!" the taller woman cooed, petting her head. "Sorry for making you wait for so long."

"S'fine," she muttered, leaning into the contact. "I'm going to miss you…"

"I'm gonna miss you, too."

* * *

"So your quirk is just having a tail?" Neiro mumbled again, looking disinterested and bored. "How droll."

"Monoma," Itsuka hissed, glaring at the woman from the corner of her eye. "Be nice."

"Nah."

Izuku heard the sound of flesh against bone. Itsuka had chopped the offending classmate in the neck, her body crashing against a corner with 'shame corner' written above it. "Sorry about her, she's just- in a mood."

Izuku caught Pony rolling her eyes in his peripheral. "When isn't she?"

Itsuka shrugged. "Look, if you can find a better term for… _that _, then I'd be happy to hear it."

"I'm right here!" Neiro protested weakly from her place in the corner.

"Inferiority complex," Saiko muttered, taking the last steps to tower over Makaira. "And you."

Her hands clasped over the tailed woman's. "Thank you, for accepting the change."

Izuku's ex-classmate blinked. "I- you're welcome."

A sensation brought Izuku's attention back from the going-on's in the common room, the hair on the back of his neck standing on edge and a primal fear bubbling in his stomach.

He shuddered as his eyes slowly locked on the source of it all.

Yui, laying on the couch, forgotten by the rest of her classmates, hungry eyes glinting and her face flat.

Wearing a negligee.

_"O̖h wow̨,ͅ ̺s̠he ͚is ̗roc̳k̯i͟n͈g͜ t̟h̻at̥ ͕lo̢ok,͚ toͅo." _

_Shut. up. For once. _

"You said 'after the move'. You look like you are done with the move."

Yui's voice cut through the common room like a knife, all conversation halting.

"Y-Yui, you can't be-"

"If you meant carrying her stuff to her new room we can do it in your dorms," she insisted, rising up from the couch.

"...Not... Today?" he mumbled, turning to the door. "Maybe sometime later- uhhhhhh-"

He looked around feeling trapped as the stoic woman seemed undeterred. "So, sometime?"

Her hands found his face and made him look down to her, as her body rubbed against his, the sheer fabric of her negligee leaving little to his imagination. "Is that a promise?"

"Mm. Mm. See you in the dorms, Intelli"

With that, he rushed out, green lightning cracking where he once stood, leaving the 1-B dorm in his dust.

"Holy _shit _, Yui, were you just gonna fuck him _right here? _" Setsuna mumbled. "Ballsy move..."

"Wasn't that too forward?" Pony mumbled with a tilt of her head. "He seem… uncomfortable."

Yui smiled. "...It wasn't a no."


	62. The heart that loved her

_ C'mon, Toshi. _

Her knee bounced, glancing at Inko from her spot on the couch as the mother to her protege washed the dishes.

She would've assisted, but she was too busy trying to build up the courage to confess.

_ You face villains for a living! You came back from death's door once already, just say it! _

"You know, Toshiko-kun…" Inko started, causing the hero in disguise to flinch and shiver at the same time.

"...Know what?" she asked softly, too scared to look up at Inko, hearing the soft footfalls as the woman approached.

"I've wanted to ask you something for a long time…" She took a seat next to Toshiko. "For a few months now, actually…"

Toshiko gulped, sweat starting to form on her back. "Wh- Uh- go ahead?"

The mother's hand found its way on her back, rubbing soothing circles around it. "You don't have to answer, but…"

_ W-wait is this happening? Is she really asking...? _

Toshiko would've thought she was dreaming if her chronic pain wasn't still echoing through her with every shaky breath.

"Are you All Might?"

"Yes."

Toshiko's eyes snapped open and she almost fell back, looking at Inko in panic. "No! I mean no- I thought you were going to ask something else!"

Inko laughed, a maternal, calming laugh that made the pain fade slightly as it graced Toshiko's ears. "What did you think I was going to ask?"

"I- uhh…" For once she was thankful for how broken her body was, as the lack of blood was probably hiding her blush. "It… doesn't matter."

"Oh?" A glint appeared in Inko's eyes that brought her attention back to her face, a soft pout forming on the greenettes lips. "I think it does, you have been distant lately- Ah! Perhaps I've been too clingy, it's just... _ weird _with Izuku out of the house and not always having time to call. I've been feeling…"

Her hand found Toshiko's, squeezing it lightly.

"...Lonely. I hope I wasn't too much…"

Toshiko spluttered a bit, squeezing her hand back reflexively. "N-no, no, not at all, you've been…"

"Wanna go out on a date?" Inko asked suddenly.

Time stopped as Toshiko's eyes widened, looking at the now-panicking form of Inko Midoriya, who was a blushing, stuttering mess after her outburst. "S-sorry, I've just- I've been- uhh meaning to ask you that for a while now, and it just kinda slipped out when you- God-" She pulled her hand back and covered her massive blush. "Me and my stupid-"

"Yes."

Inko blinked.

Then did that again.

And again.

Then a torrent of water hit Toshiko.

* * *

"Okay, so." Mei's eyes landed on Ochako, who was feeling a little more tense than usual under her gaze. "Did you enjoy yourself with Izuku?"

"I- uh- how did you know?" she mumbled, eyes slowly moving to Katsumi.

"Don't look at me, why would I know?!"

"Oh my God," Momo mumbled, almost breaking out into laughter. "That explains why you were so… giddy."

"And how much bolder she was with Izuku," Mei added with a smirk. "How was it?"

"He…" Ochako looked away shyly. "Was amazing, truly…"

"Cut the crap," Katsumi grunted, sitting on the bed with a soft pout. "By the end of it, you were so high off the climaxes that your whole character changed."

"Oh, that sounds adorable~" Mei commented with a smile as Ochako blushed harder. "Okay, then if we both had our turns…" She gripped the hand of the blushing brunette starting to drag her out of the room.

"W-wait, Mei, where are you taking m-"

The door slammed shut, leaving Katsumi with Momo.

"You know, the first time Mei introduced me to this 'sharing' thing I was…"

Katsumi hissed, then sighed, falling back into the bed. "Against it?"

Momo giggled, taking a seat on Izuku's desk chair. "You could say that. I had never thought about it before."

"Why would you? It's not something people think about growing up." Katsumi mumbled, rolling to her side and glancing at Momo with the corner of her eye. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

Momo leaned back on the chair with a smile. "Not really. I just wanted to say how happy I was with how it turned out, aren't you?"

Katsumi smiled gently. "...You know what, yeah, I am."

* * *

"Mei! Slow down!" Ochako protested even as the mechanic pulled her across the dorm with ease. "I said-"

Gunhead martial arts kicked in, Ochako's foot digging into the ground for a second as her other hand gripped Mei's elbow, pulling the girl close till she could yank her trapped hand out of the grip. "Slow down."

"Oh-" Mei looked confused for a second before she smiled. "Sorry, was zoned out, wanna go to the workshop?"

Ochako blinked and took a step away from the girl. "Sure… why though?"

"Costume upgrades! I wanna test some stuff out for you!" Mei added with her signature, manic smile.

"O-oh!" Ochako smiled, eyes sparkling with excitement. "Sure!- but wait…"

Mei stopped in her tracks, eyes snapping onto hers.

"Why didn't you think Momo had done something too? She was plenty bold as well…" Ochako mumbled with a shy blush growing on her face.

"Oh, she's always like that on romantic highpoints, didn't you notice?" Mei mumbled turning around and continuing her trek to the main building. "Then again you didn't see her when she first confessed… hmm."

"Wh-wha.. What did she do?"

"Pulled Izuku into a deep kiss, and invited both of us to her room." Mei shrugged, a small smile forming on her lips as she remembered everything else that happened that day, her confession to her, their first kiss… she shook her head before she went too deep into nostalgia and chased Izuku down. "Didn't know what it implied back then but now… I do."

Ochako blinked, then blushed heavily. "Woah… ok, yeah I see why you weren't shocked."

"Mhm…" she mumbled, still trying to suppress the urge. Sighing, she decided to replace the urge with another. "So tell me more about your quirk, I had some ideas."

* * *

_ "I̬zu̫ku, ͓fo̯r̫ t̞h̝e ̨love ̮of̣ ͙Go̲ḏ, s̙l̬o̪w̢ d̨own̬ fo̜r ̱a͓ sec̼o̭nd!" _Nana hissed trying to force his mind to calm down for a second and to get him to stop his sprint. Or at least slow him down.

_ Slow down!? 'Cause of you I almost- _

He didn't notice the floating uniform, barreling into Tooru and sending both of them flying.

Deep-set reflexes Total Command had hardwired into him the first days of class kicked in and he grabbed onto her at the last moment, spinning them around in the air before they impacted with the ground.

He hissed, laying his head back onto the ground huffing out gently. "Sorry about that, Hagakure."

The invisible girl was dazed, he could tell by how she was breathing erratically, her body still reeling from the shock of the impact.

"I-It's ok Midoriya-" she mumbled, gently placing her hands on his chest and sighing. "You probably couldn't see me, right?"

"...I don't know whether to get mad over that pun or to apologize," he mumbled, looking away.

"Hehe, broke your apologetic streak!" she cheered, sitting up on his lap. And bouncing a little.

Izuku, who had forgotten about her body proportions he had felt on the first combat training, got a reminder when her thighs pressed against his chest.

_ "Oh wow͢, ͇i̢t's͜ ̟a s̟ha͚me̝ you̩ c̡an'̖t ͙sẹe ̞he̙r͙ t̥ru̫l̪y̰." _ Nana teased as Izuku blushed at the sensation.

"Hagakure, I can still feel you-" he mumbled, voice on the verge of cracking.

"Oh- right-" she giggled, touching his chest one last time before hopping off of him, wiggling around giddily.

_ Is that her version of a smile? _Izuku wondered as he got up and dusted himself off.

_ "H̹ęr͢ b̬esṯ ̺qu͈ality̨;͟ ̬h̳e͙r͔ ͅw͙i̩ggl̟es." _

He huffed internally at the ancient meme Nana referenced.

"So, Midori- can I call you Izuku?" she asked, and if Izuku was reading that arm motion properly though her sleeve, she was playing with the tips of her hair. "And… you could call me Tooru in return, it's easier to say"

Tooru was invisible through and through. But at that moment Izuku could see the blush on her cheeks.

"I-" he huffed scratching his cheek. "Sure, I don't mind… Tooru"

The girl cheered, hopping up and down. "Yes! You had no idea how much I wanted to ask that since the combat training!"

_ "Oh ͇my̝ god̮,̤ ̖s̰h̘e ͇i͎s a̖do͇r͈ab̧l̮e̫ ̡and̹ I ͈w̟an̩t ͍5 ̞o̢f͓ h̞e̘r̟.̤" _

_ Shut up, Nana. _

She stopped her happy dance and turned around to him with a happy sigh. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little hyper today, it's just been so long since I hung out with Mina and the rest! C'mon, let's go!"

"Hah, you're right," he mumbled, following her lead. "It feels like ages since we were one class again."

"Mhm! With the sports festival, the break after it then the internships. Heck, I forgot the last time I saw you! Did you get more buff or is that just me?" she turned around to face him, walking backwards.

"I might've?" he laughed awkwardly. "Miruko really put me through quite the training regimen, my legs are _ still _ aching."

_ "Am͉on̖g o͙t̗hḙr͓ ̻thi̫ngs." _

_ Shut _ ** _up,_ ** _ Nana. _

A soft giggle echoed from the back of his mind.

Tooru laughed, "Well, Mr. Muscles, we'll just have to find out." She stopped suddenly and grabbed onto Izuku's arm, the feeling of her fingers attempting to cover his right bicep feeling pleasant in a strange way, especially when he couldn't see her hands at all.

Izuku froze, a weak smile on his face as he looked down at her. Tooru proceeded to feel and squeeze his upper arm.

"Well, c'mon, flex again!" Tooru cheered, a hint of a tease in her voice.

"Fine, fine" Izuku huffed but was still smiling. He tensed his right bicep, tightening the muscles. Tooru gave a small squeak as her fingers were pulled apart at the bulging strands of steel-like muscle under his skin.

"Yup, well, you definitely got bigger, Izuku," Tooru said as she pulled away from him with a spin and continued her trek to the dorms, the warmth of her blush closing the gap between them somehow even as she walked away.

_ "W͟ow,̣ ̠y̻o͔u͚ **real̡l̠y ̥**got ̪he͕r̟ ̗hot ̺and̜ ͉bo- _ _ " _

Izuku slammed the connection shut between him and Nana.

He sighed, a smile forming on his lips at the sight of Tooru almost prancing to the dorms. He easily caught up to her and reached out with his hand, his nerve endings growing sensitive as he guestimated where her head was supposed to be from the heat and the air currents, finding its mark and patting her gently.

Tooru made another squeak and turned around to look at him, tilting her head to the side like a puppy, rubbing the side of her head against his hand gently. "Y-you have no idea how good that feels~"

He chuckled gently, then the smile on his face grew sad. "...you're not very used to physical touch, are you?"

"I mean…" she pouted, he could hear it in her voice. "It's hard to get this much contact when you are invisible, y'know? It's… why I get so animated sometimes..."

He nodded sadly "I see…"

"...want a piggyback ride?"

He had to cover his ears as Tooru cheered loudly.

* * *

Mei pushed aside most of her tools, leaving an open gap for the roll of blue sheet that was going to become the blueprints for Ochako's upgrades. "Sorry for getting to this so late, I kinda spent too much time on Izuku's helmet."

"Don't worry!" Ochako waved her hands, smiling softly. "He needed those upgrades more, I don't even wanna think about what could've happened if he didn't have those…"

"Right-" Mei breathed out "Oh! Right! That!"

Ochako blinked as Mei scuttled off, moving invention after invention, trying to find something.

**"Ar͊͢e̳͠ ̩̂y̮̔o͎̓u l͟oo̳̕king ͕̽f̧̆or ͎̋th̩os̟̄è̘?"** Mecha-Might hissed, slowly getting off his dock and pushing some of the heavier gear aside, revealing two bracelets on the floor. **"I̛̮ ̫͘r̮͊ė̤co͚͡rd̼̒e̘d̜̔ yo͉̕ư̬ ̛̗d̻̏r͙̎op̦͞ping t̹̓hem b̼̑à͔ĉ̮k ̥͗t̹͌h̹͘ȩ̎rë͟ ṱ̂wo ͍͗d̜͊å̢y̼s ̲͋ạ͛g̪͘o" **

"Ah! Thanks, Mecha-Might." Mei chirped, rushing next to her creation and grabbing the bracelets off of him. "Ochako, try these on!" She tossed them towards the brunette.

"Hm?" the brunette mumbled as she grabbed them out of the air, looking at them closely.

They were rounded rings, pale pink with a black inlay around the middle and a smaller version of the pink handle her suit had angled back.

"So do I just shove this over my hand or is there a latch?" she asked, looking over the bracelets surprised on how light they were.

"Oh, right, lemme show you!" Mei exclaimed back, closing the gap and grabbing one of the bracelets out of her hand. "You press here-"

The bracelet hissed, the circumference expanding and slipping around Mei's hand with ease, clasping closed with a beep. "And after this, press this-"

The handle started whirring, spinning rapidly around the black inlay and splitting at the middle, shooting out a piece of fabric that wrapped around Mei's middle finger, the handle sections snapping back immediately to form a single finger glove.

"Tada!" Mei cheered waving both of her hands. "They have a symmetrical design so it doesn't matter which side you put them on too! C'mon, try it!"

Ochako couldn't help but gape in awe, then immediately going through the same motions Mei had, a single-finger glove covering her own hand too. "Wow…" she mumbled, moving her hand and feeling how comfortable it was. The substance covering her hand flexed like latex, but it was smooth as silk and breathable like lace. "Are these…"

"Machine wash? Nah, sorry" Mei smiled, "They are hydrophobic and self-cleaning though, so _ you _ won't need to clean them ever!"

Ochako couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Mei- but…" she looked pensive about asking it "nevermind."

"Why doesn't it act on its own like Izuku's gauntlets?" Mei guessed her question, tilting her head. "Well, I can't build anything that would be able to sense your movements and differentiate them from your natural movements, not in something this small at least, if you were Izuku maybe? Considering he can probably send out binary through the flex of his muscles, or something like the neural interface I added."

"Neural... interface? You mean you tapped into his nervous system?" Ochako asked rubbing her chin with her gloved hand.

"Nah, I just had it skim the action potential of his neurons, he's the one that managed to connect himself to the sensor.- but I could do that type of interface too... maybe." Mei looked at the still blank blueprint and grabbed her white pencil, starting to scribble on the surface drawing what looked to be a receptacle.

"If we were talking about a normal human being- even one with a quirk, the most viable scenario would be to use that derelict tech of installing an electrode into the brain via brain surgery- but even then the adaptation period would be a mess, and then you would need a wired connection to the location where you want the tech to be in."

"Pass." Ochako winced, thinking about someone cutting her head open to place some tech inside.

"Yeah, many would. Then the other option is to connect to the nerves directly, but issue number one is-"

"Hard to do that kind of surgery while keeping the nerves intact?" Ochako finished, earning a smirk from Mei.

"Yeah, and even then there is a massive chance of the nerves just dying on the contact with the sensor, being the drama queens they are."

Ochako giggled.

"Honestly, the only possible way I could build a neural interface is with Izuku, only 'cause of his quirk. He can move his nerves in his body to make them go exactly where they are supposed to and keep them alive by stopping his immune system from rejecting the implants." Mei continued scribbling on the paper, slowly bringing the blueprint to life, a symbol for Izuku's brain and the direct connection to the receptacle, another line connecting back to him.

Ochako pursued her lips leaning in to look at the drawing, tracing the line back to the brain. "Why two lines? Isn't it one way?"

"Usually? Yeah. but with him, with Total Command?" Mei leaned back with a dreamy smile. "I can imagine the feedback loop completing true brain-machine interfacing; something humanity dreamed about for-" She laughed. "300 years? Maybe more?"

Ochako smiled. "Yeah, that sounds amazing Mei"

The woman blinked then blushed. "Ah, shit I went off on a tangent- now for your suit…"

She rolled out another blue sheet over the one she drew on with a huff.

* * *

"You know" Izuku mumbled, gripping onto the invisible thighs around his head. "This isn't a piggyback-ride."

Tooru giggled, one hand gripping onto his head for balance as the other reached high into the sky "I knoow~ but it's so high up on here!"

Izuku chuckled at her antics, not really minding giving her a ride on his shoulders.

Then his phone rang, causing him to stop at the realization it was his mom's ringtone. "Uhm, Tooru I need to take this."

"Go ahead, I don't mind!" The woman called back, leaning forward a bit to balance easier on him.

_ ...should I tell her that her thigh is covering my ears? _

_ "Jṷst͕ s̫and̢w͚i̮ch̻ ̝thḙ p̮hon̜e̳ ̨be̖t̰w͜e͇en͍ ̮y̫ou̻r ea͔r̠ ̲an͍d h̥e̪r t͖hi͕gh~" _

_ Not doing that, but thanks for the idea. _

He leaned his head to the side and placed the phone against his, now free, ear.

"Izuku!? Izuku- I need help!"

His stomach dropped. "Help? Mom everything ok? Is it the paparazzi? The villains?"

"I confessed to Toshiko!"

He stopped, Tooru almost falling off him at his sudden halt.

_ What? _

" She-she said yes! And I don't know what to do now "

_ "Y̻o͈uͅr ̢mo̼m̳ ̝is dati͉ng̨ Al̹l͜ ͔M̝i͈g̗h̜t,̖" _ Nana muttered softly, not believing Izuku's ears.

"Izuku? Honey are- are you there?"

_ My mom is dating All Might. _

He mumbled a 'yes' from the back of his throat.

"Ah! Ok, good I- uh… how to ask this- do you know of any romantic places to take her to?"

"No, no- hey Mom, can you give me a second? I need to call someone. I'll call back"

" Uh, yeah, Honey, go ahead. " Izuku ended the call and looked at his phone shaking in his hands, going to his contacts and calling Toshiko silently, making Tooru worry.

The call connected after two rings " Young Midoriya? "

"Hey, my mom just called."

Izuku heard the woman on the other end break out into a fit of coughs. " R-right, about that- "

"Just, let me say something."

Toshiko was silent for half a beat. " ...alright. "

"I'm happy for you, happy for both of you. Please do right by her, okay?"

" Of course, Young Midoriya, I would never- "

Izuku sighed. "I know, just. I needed to say it. And… one more thing."

" Anything, Young Midoriya. "

"Don't hurt her." His voice was iron, and it came out more threateningly than he probably intended, but he needed to say it. In that moment, over the phone, he wasn't talking to his idol, he was talking to someone who could hurt his mother worse than just about anything or anyone else. "Are we clear?"

Another cough and Toshiko sounded weak. " Crystal. "

"Great, she loves traditional restaurants and watching the sunset. Katsudon is a win in both our books, if you can take her to a place that serves it like it's homemade, she'll be extra happy."

" Thank you. "

He sighed again, feeling his heart racing. "Yeah, of course. Talk to you later."

" A-ah before that- uh- "

The worry in Toshiko's voice got the hair on the back of his neck to stand on their end. "...what is it?"

"She… might be onto me- about- you know?"

"O-oh-" he breathed out. Of course, his Mom was smart and was living close to All Might for nearly a month now. He would've been surprised if she wasn't already suspecting something. "Are you gonna tell her?"

He could feel the number one hero squirm even through the phone. " I… won't lie, I'm tempted to- but this is more than just my secret at this point.  " She paused to sigh. "  It's yours too, would you be against your mom knowing? "

"..." Izuku sighed, body wanting to slump but keeping straight for his passenger. "No. she deserves to know. You wouldn't want her to learn sometime later right?"

" Right.  " The way she said it felt heavier than it should've been. Like, he had just talked her into a mistake she wanted to avoid doing again. "  Then, I'll do that when the chance comes by. "

"Good, talk to you in class?"

" See you on Monday, son. " with that the line went dead

He blinked, the realization that his hero called him 'son' for the first time setting in slowly along with a blush on his cheeks.

"Izuku, what was that about?" Tooru asked, tapping and petting his head.

"My mom got a girlfriend." he breathed out, looking up to where he thought her eyes were.

"And I'm freaking out."


	63. We're Together Though We're Apart

**A/N:Merry cripmas from Turkey!**

* * *

She felt bad over it.

Honestly, it was unheroic.

But she couldn't really get her body to listen to her internal turmoil.

Toru almost let out the mewl she was holding in ever since Izuku stopped to take that call.

She had scooted forward due to the momentum, and his curly hair was tickling _wayyy _too close to her core for her not to react to the stimulation.

God, what she wouldn't give for him to just turn around fully and…

_No, bad. _

The only silver lining in this whole thing was how her skirt had bunched up against his neck, so _in theory, _he couldn't feel her… reactions to the contact.

She honestly hated that the man was freaking out over his mother dating, and instead of helping him, she was there riding on his shoulders, thinking about what his mouth could do.

Maybe Minerva was rubbing off on her.

Izuku murmured something to his phone, adjusting his grip on her thighs, with his attention divided he added more pressure than he possibly intended, his fingers sinking into her thighs, making her bite into her own lips to silence the moan building up in her throat.

He was right, most people didn't give her any physical affection. That made her sensitive to contact as a whole. And the situation they were in right now was… overloading her to say the least. Her skin felt like it was getting warmer with each beat of her heart.

Not that she minded.

Not at all.

She fought the urge to squeeze her thighs around his head.

Maybe she could play it off as a joke if she did? Izuku was the type to play along…

_No, that would be abusing his nature… _

She pouted. Curse morals, and curse the cutie giving her an over-the shoulders ride.

She sighed, ruffing Izuku's hair and giving him some more pats over the head, making the man giggle and laugh, the vibrations making a shiver run up her spine.

"Wha-what gives, Tooru?" he asked with a smile on his voice.

_Don't imagine him smiling, don't imagine him smiling with his cute freckle- _

_God. DAMMIT. _

"Nothing…" she muttered with a blush she hoped he couldn't hear in her tone. "Just thanking you in my own way for the ride- I needed something like this"

"It's fine, Tooru, everyone needs physical contact"

"...can we do this whenever I need it again?" she muttered, hoping that she wasn't overstepping a boundary.

"I don't mind, whenever you need it just tell me, okay?"

Her heart throbbed in her chest harshly. _That… _

She pinched his cheeks "Dammit, stop being perfect for five minutes!"

Izuku laughed, "I'm really not though!"

* * *

"...you know." Saiko huffed in English, hefting one of her bags over her shoulder, "I thought Izuku was going to help me carry this to my new dorms."

"Well." Pony shrugged, the massive amount of luggage on her back shifting, "he was gonna, but then Yui scared him off."

"Oh, I know- and honestly, I don't blame him. She came on too strong." Saiko muttered, "I need to keep that in mind for my own machinations…"

Pony tilted her head. "Look at Miss Dictionary over here."

"I just wanted to use it, it's a fun word to say- are those bags too heavy? I can take more-"

Saiko's question was dismissed by a shake of Pony's head, "Nope, it weighs nothing, like a bunch of grapes."

"Keep forgetting just how strong you are…" she mused, chuckling under her breath. "Then again I could carry all of this too…"

"I want more hugs." Pony admitted without hesitation, "That's fine right?"

"I…" Saiko wasn't imagining Pony would just _admit _to coming along to spend more time with Izuku but, she knew the American was probably coming for that. "It's fine, I don't mind sharing him."

Pony smiled, "Good!"

"Otherwise we would have had issues."

* * *

Mina tossed her stuff on the ground with a victory screech "I'M BACK!"

"Welcome back," Minerva hummed from her side, almost making Mina jump at the sudden intrusion.

"GAH! Where did you come from!"

The smaller woman shrugged, climbing onto the sofa, "From my internship with Mt. Lady; something I never wanna do again." Her face twitched with disgust. "I thought we were being trained to be heroes, not slaves."

"What even- why did you go with _her _?" Mina asked with her hand on her hip, leaning on one leg throwing her waist to the side, her black thighs and cyan crop-top hugging her pink skin making quite the scene.

Minerva took her in with an up and down. _Yep, definitely Bi- _"I didn't make it to the second leg of the tournament, remember? I'm lucky Mt. Lady took me as an intern at all."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Minerva waved her off, "My fault for chasing Midoriya instead of actually getting into the 'hero' shape."

"I mean, to be fair, your leg span is like half of most of ours, a race isn't really the best place to show off your skills." Izuku mumbled, Tooru humming thoughtfully overhead.

"Yeah I suppose… Welcome back, Midoriya." Minerva mumbled waving at him.

Mina did a double-take, surprised that 150 kilos of pure muscle, giving Tooru a shoulder-ride was able to sneak in so silently.

"Oh, thanks, it's good to be back!" He turned to smile at Mina too. "Hey Mina, long time no see."

"No fair!" she pouted, grumbling and shoving her fists down in mock anger. "I want a turn too!"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

* * *

"Oh wow." Saiko sighed at the sight of Izuku carrying both the pink-skinned girl and the invisible one, Mina and Tooru if she remembered correctly, on his shoulders, arms hooked around their thighs to keep them secured. Both giggling like little kids.

"Go to the right, Izuku! I wanna see the top of the drawers in the kitchen~" Mina demanded roughly petting his head to emphasize her order, making Tooru giggle in delight.

The man sighed with a smile and obeyed, managing to sway towards the kitchen while still keeping his balance.

Pony leaned towards Saiko and whispered how lucky she was in English.

* * *

Mei poked her tongue out, squinting at the blueprints she drew up. "Hmmmm…. I might add a little experimental tech to these if you don't mind," she hummed, rolling the page up.

"Experimental?" Ochako asked, fear mixed into her voice.

"Nothing dangerous- Izuku would be mad if they were…" That really didn't give Ochako more confidence in the upcoming alterations. "Just some modular additions that might work with your quirk, ones we can't be sure of if you don't test them after they are complete."

"Ohhhh… huh, like what?"

"Now now, that would ruin the surprise wouldn't it?" Mei added with her signature, only slightly manic smile. "Now, we should head back to the dorms, Izuku is probably back by now."

"No, seriously, what additions?"

Mei walked out, winking at Ochako over her shoulder with a giggle.

* * *

Aizawa grunted, looking at Kayama eating through another tub of ice cream. "Just don't leave that one out this time, okay?"

"That _was _just one time," Kayama huffed with a pout with the spoon still in her mouth.

"I don't really care, Nemuri. The couch was a mess to clean up afterward." Aizawa huffed rubbing her eyes.

"You weren't even the one that cleaned it up, it was _me _." Kayama muttered under her breath.

"God, I need a nap." Aizawa huffed, cracking her neck. "Really not in the mood to deal with the mess that is 1-A…"

Nemuri noticed her side-eyeing her and sighed, getting up and dusting off her baggy shirt. "Fine, I'll deal with 'em instead if you shut up about that _one _time."

Aizawa's mouth curled in her signature creepy smile. "How very rational of you."

"Shut up, Eraser." She huffed, trying not to get excited over seeing Izuku again after so long.

Maybe this 'crush' thing was getting out of hand, but she really didn't wanna think more about it.

* * *

"How many more do you think he can lift?" Doi mumbled to Eiko, looking at the utter dogpile on Izuku's shoulders, ignoring the pile of boxes in the entrance of the dorms.

"Pretty sure the whole class if we got on the couch and it had a steel frame," Eiko mumbled back looking at Mina, Tooru, the new girl, another blonde girl from 1-B, _and _Katsumi on Izuku's shoulders and back. Katsumi was the loudest, arguing about being the 'queen of the hill' with the newcomer.

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't really feel his muscles against you, now would you?" Doi rebuked with a shrug. "How many more do you think he can hold this way?"

"Ehhhh," Eiko tilted her head. "If you say it like that, it depends on the ones on him, how comfortable they are with being stacked and all. Not his strength."

"I suppose so."

Momo sighed next to the other two, her hand on her cheek with her other arm crossed under her bust, smiling serenely.

Minerva watched on with curiosity rather than arousal for once. "It's weird how some people decided scaling up Izuku's body is a fun pass time."

"I mean, this is what the third time this has happened?" Izuku answered loudly, trying to be heard over the argument right over his head. "Also don't talk like I'm not here."

"Sorry, didn't mean to be rude," she mumbled looking away in shame.

Mina's hand managed to pinch Izuku's cheek, "Hey, she is trying her best to be better- don't get on her case that much."

"I'm not!" Izuku protested with a wince and a smile. "And I'm aware, she has gotten a lot better."

Minerva blushed gently at getting defended for once, "Now who is talking like I can't hear…"

Everyone except Katsumi and the 1-B girls chuckled softly.

* * *

"Hello?" Midnight called out opening the door to the 1-A dorms curious about the muted sounds of chaos coming through.

Only to come face to face with Izuku trying to balance with seven people stacked on top of him, Mei cackling like a madwoman, almost literally sitting on Izuku's face, stacked on Mina and Tooru's thighs

_...I keep forgetting they are still kids considering the stuff they accomplished. _

She coughed trying to get their attention

_Then again, we do this stuff in our dorms after the finals too… _

The pile slowly turned around, Izuku's legs shaking from the effort of keeping balance, one green eye poking out from the tunnel of thighs. "Ah! Nemuri-Sensei!"

"That's dangerous, you all should probably get off," she called out, the seven people on Izuku snapping to attention as Izuku slowly got on one of his knees to allow everyone down safely. "And Yaoyorozu, could you gather the rest if they are here? I got an announcement to convey from Eraser."

"Why didn't she come over?" Doi mumbled, playing with a stand of her hair.

"She was too tired." Midnight said with a shrug, "Does it really matter?"

"Guess not," the blonde muttered.

"Oh! I should head out!" Pony chirped, hugging Saiko one last time before dashing ou-

Izuku's hand found its way onto her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Wait, it's almost dinner time, wanna eat with us?" His head twisted to face Midnight too, "You too, Nemuri-Sensei."

"O-oh… I will love to." Pony mumbled in response with broken Japanese that only made Izuku smile wider.

"Inviting me to dinner, my my, you are becoming quite the womanizer, Midoriya," Midnight teased back with a genuine smile that had just the barest hint of worry mixed in.

Shoko opened the door, silently taking note of everyone forming a group in front of Midnight, hopping over the pile of boxes to get next to Kyoka. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing yet, Midnight has an announcement for our class, we are just waiting on-"

Yui pranced in, somehow literally shooting off sparkles in the air followed by Momo rubbing her forehead with a disgruntled sigh. "And that's everyone."

"Good." Midnight huffed, scouring through her hoodie pockets to pull out a piece of paper.

Honestly, it was surprising everyone still recognized her in a hoodie, jeans and her hair pulled into a ponytail instead of her usual get-up.

"Oh Jesus, this is more of a mess than her sleeping schedule," Midnight sighed, making the rest of the class giggle gently. "Ok, I think I got it, so class, welcome your new resident, Saiko Intelli, she just transferred over from Class B, hope you all get along."

"We shall give her a warm welcome!" Tomoyo declared, then promptly turned around to the tallest woman, bowing 90 degrees exactly "Welcome to the 1-A dorms, glad to have you."

"Oh, thank you," Saiko responded, bowing back.

Izuku rubbed his eyes. "She didn't mean right now, Tomoyo,"

"I know, but it's better to do our task early than late!"

"Hm, guess that's accurate." Midnight sighed, messing with her ponytail trying to get comfortable with it. "Also, your midterms are coming up."

The teacher turned to Mina and Doi, and sighed with pity.

"And yes, we have a written portion too."

Mina was on Izuku's waist in an instant. "Izuku- you promised to tutor me right!? Can I take you up on that offer? Please?"

"Mina… not the place," he hummed gently, blushing violently up to his ears

"It's a yes or no, please!" she insisted, rubbing her cheek on his thigh, looking up in the cutest way she could.

"Ok, ok, I can help with the tutoring," he sighed, petting her head, trying to goad her off his leg. "Now please stop making a scene."

"Oho?" Saiko's arms burst out into his peripheral vision, hugging him from behind. "Would you like a co-teacher for tutoring?"

"Intelli-san, please get off-" Izuku whined, Katsumi's eyebrow twitching at the scene.

"Ok, you two have 11 seconds before you let go or I'm gonna show off just how much firepower I have," the blonde hissed, red eyes glowing with anger.

"Oh?~" Saiko mumbled, leaning into Izuku, her breasts pushing against his back. "Jealous much?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." Katsumi called out palms glowing.

"It's unheroic to threaten others with violence, Bakugou!" Tomoyo chirped chopping one of her arms.

"Ok, enough," Izuku mumbled, grabbing Saiko's arm and pulling it off, jumping over Mina and standing next to Midnight instead. "Is that all of the announcements, Nemuri-Sensei?"

"Hm?" The teacher seemed to be in a trance watching the previous show of affection towards him. "Oh- uh yeah, that was all."

"Ok then," he sighed and turned to the class. "Glad to see everyone back, I for one, missed all of you in our week of internships-"

"You didn't miss Stain's head with yours!" Doi cheered. "Nice knock-out!"

"Yeah!" Eiko cheered along, pumping her fist in the air. "Really manly!"

Izuku tilted his head with an exasperated smile, "Guys, thanks but a bit later?"

"Oh right- sorry," Doi mumbled, growing quiet once more.

"But, classwork is still coming upon us, and as Midnight said, so are our midterms so this may be the last day of our 'break'. Let's make the best of it!" he finished with a smile. "Sato, Tsuyu, care to help me with dinner? And Kirishima, Shoji, Ochako, and Tomoyo, can you help Intelli move in?"

"Sure thing, Deku!" Ochako chirped, running up and touching some of Saiko's belongings, making the heavy boxes float, and carrying them to the staircase. "C'mon everyone!"

"When did she get so fast?" Eiko asked to no one in particular, chasing after the brunette with her arms around two boxes with a smile.

Shoji soon followed with a hum, Tomoyo lagging behind with Saiko to guide her to her new room, chit-chatting about the upcoming midterm tests.

"Well, damn," Midnight muttered, watching the class split up according to Izuku's call, a large chunk deciding to remain in the common room and play some games on the main TV. "Your class is so much different than ours was back in the day."

She sighed, placing both hands on her pockets, "Makes me feel nostalgic."

* * *

Aizawa groaned, opening the door to the 1-A dorm. "Nemuri, I sent you like an hour ago what are you-"

Her outburst died in her throat as she was greeted with the sight of 1-A dining with the addition of Midnight, Pony and Mei.

"Eating with your class?" Midnight mumbled after swallowing her bite. "You have no idea how good of a chef Izuku is, do you?"

"I-I'm really not that good," Izuku mumbled, getting some looks from the class.

"Izuku, honey." Pony muttered out in English, her big blue eyes staring down into his soul. "Don't lie to me with such a sincere voice, ok?"

"Just take the compliment for once." Katsumi growled, shoveling another forkful, and smiling at the taste. "Goddammit, I can't even be mad at you with how good this is."

"Thank you…" he mumbled with a shy smile.

Tooru huffed, waving her arms. "What did I tell you about being perfect! Dork!"

Mina almost did a spit take at the declaration, starting to laugh uproariously. "God, he really is, isn't he?"

"Yet you still don't ask him out for a date," Kyoka teased with a smirk. "Where is Mrs. Love now?"

"You shush!"

Aizawa huffed with a smile hidden behind her scarf. "Got a spot for one more?"

* * *

_"Y͍o̹u k̙n̲o̯w,͕ i͚tͅ'̱s̳ ̬fun͚ny͙," _Nana mumbled in his head as Izuku leaned back with a full stomach, watching the small talk on the table with a soft smile.

_"T̯h̭ịs w̬hole day͖,̻ you͎r çlass̞ w̯as more op̭e͔n ͍a̮b͙o̖ut͖ wh͕at͈ they ͟th͚o͖ugh̡t." _

_Guess we just grew close enough? _Izuku hummed in thought. _Even if, you know- _

_"Y̲e̱ah, e͚ven if͢ ̞yo̪ṳ ͚we̼re ͕p̙hysi̧ca͉lly̻ f͔a̡rt̮h̡e͎r ̡ap͙ar̖t͔." _

He could feel her smile serenely in his head.

_"T͙h̼i̧s̱ ͈d͕o̦rm ̝has͓ g̖ot͜t͎e̲n ̧vęr̬y ho͔m̖e̯y, you̢ kn͉ow?" _

He sighed with a bigger smile, one his girlfriends returned, Katsumi looking up from her noogie on Doi with a smirk.

_Yeah, I love it.  
_

* * *

**A/N:****Ok, cards on the table, with finals, my flight back then the bullshittery that is jetlag I have been out of commission for a while, but I hope this chapter makes up for my absence.  
**

**and if it doesnt? **

**I'll try to make it up to you with more chapters**

**maybe, if I wake up in time cause Jetlag is still alive and kicking my ass **

**20 hours of sleep here I come **

**hope to see y'all on the next chapter**


	64. I know many lives worth living

_"Yo̡u̮ a͈re ͈wa͔t̹c͖h̗i̟n͕g̪ qu̠i̜t͖e̢ ̗int̖ently͜~͖"̰ _

Izuku internally scoffed as Nana attempted to tease him over his intense look as Momo maneuvered to the goal zone of their speed test.

First thing back and the hero class was testing their new limits. UA never changed, but he never wanted it to.

_Maze of pipes in an industrial zone. Slippery metal, unstable footing. Even Tomoyo would struggle with getting there fast. _

_"O̯r ̮ṷsed̡ t̺o̤, ̬s̞h̗e m͓i̟g͕ht̩ d̼o͕ bet͎t̥er no̘w̺ ̺th̠a̘ţ ̜s̯he̝ ͕has͓ t̡r̠ai̪ne͚d̮ i͓n t͖he̖ i̖nt̘e̹rn͕ships.̻" _

He hummed in thought, focusing on Momo once more.

She had spent a week under Nighteye and it was showing, unlike everyone else she seemed much more aware of her surroundings, each step taken with purpose, her body moving as efficiently as it could through the layered maze.

_"H̗e͢r suit̮ ̭is am̦aẕi̜ng͍ ͇to͎ ștare͚ a͈t͕, ̢i̼snͅ'̖t̩ ̭i͉t?" _

He didn't even validate that with a response.

"Woaaaah," Hakagure chimed from his side, leaning onto his crossed arms. "Look at Momo go!"

The next few moments took the breath out of Izuku.

Momo generated two climbing picks from her thighs, releasing them during her steps forward, the added momentum shooting them forward and up enough for her to grab out of the air, using both to grip onto the ledge in front of her and kicking off the wall, the momentum giving her enough leverage to pull herself up with ease.

He blinked slowly, a smile breaking out. "She's starting to use the full extent of her quirk."

"You mean adding the momentum of her limbs?" Katsumi grumbled, trying to keep herself from smiling. "It's annoying how versatile it is."

"Oh hush Ms. 'I can fly'," Hakagure muttered hiding behind Izuku's frame. "Like your quirk isn't stupid versatile."

"Not my fault it's the best quirk out there!" Katsumi cackled almost egotistically.

"Well, in theory, you _could _think of your quirk to be the best-considering your educational background, I have no doubt your quirk was the best of the bunch-I am inclined to point out that Izuku's quirk..." she paused to rake her eyes over his body as if she were appraising him. "...is likely the best. Just based on genetic luck, of course," she finished quickly from the side.

"He doesn't fucking count," Katsumi grumbled, looking back to Momo.

Izuku's eyes landed on Ochako who was looking greener than usual as she used her quirk to hop from pipe to pipe, keeping herself above the ground, but seemingly the angles she was taking were causing her greater discomfort.

He could barely hear her grumble 'this isn't as easy as running on the three-pointers' over the feed.

"Oop, it's done!" Hakagure cheered, seeing Mina beat Momo by a second. "Guess even with all of her tools, she is still a little slower than Mina"

"I mean, by a second sure," Izuku muttered with a tilt of his head.

"Next group!" All Might hollered from her spot, echoing to their location even as she stood a good 500 meters away.

"Your turn." Katsumi sneered, "try to beat my time, will ya?"

"As much fun as it will be seeing your reaction to getting beaten by him, Midoriya's movements will be slower- probably, you are lugging around what? 150 kilos of support gear alone?" Saiko mumbled scanning his hero suit up and down.

"Give or take," Izuku chuckled, his helmet clicking around his head with a hiss. "Not really an issue though."

"...Is it me or did he sound smug about it?" Hakagure muttered with a huff and a pout.

"..." Katsumi squinted, looking back to the screen, "He's gonna pull some stupid shit."

Her face broke into a smile.

Honestly, it was endearing how he acted like a kid with a new trick to show off every now and then.

* * *

"_F̡i͓v͢ę pe̥r͉ce̲nt?_ _" _

_Five percent. _

Nana chuckled in the back of his head. _"Tim̦e͙ to̖ g̪o̝ __**F͇ ̳Ą ̫S͉ ͈T͓**__ " _

_How did you- nevermind. _

* * *

Momo sighed stretching a bit as she caught her breath.

"Nice going, High-Class," Katsumi nodded leaning on her hip, "still haven't beaten my time though."

"I'm not gonna beat you in speed, Ms. 'Nitro'." She sighed with a relaxed smile. "Just happy I did as well as I did; Madam's training really helped!"

"Wanna see how much his training affected him?" the blonde muttered with a smirk, "I saw a little of it with Stain but not that much, he spent most of it paralyzed on the floor."

"Then he got up and headbutted her to the ground though," Mina added while stretching her legs next to them after the race. "That was somethin'."

Katsumi shrugged.

"So it's- Sero, Iida, Tsuyu, Midoriya, and Aoyama?" Hakagure muttered with a huff. "Guess we know who's gonna be last."

"Tough group for the Frenchie," Katsumi grunted.

Ochako huffed leaning on the wall, stomach still churning from using her quirk and jumping around erratically last round. "That- wasn't a good plan."

"Ochako, your hubby's up!" Mina teased hopping next to her and helping to her feet. "C'mon, I'm sure you wanna see his muscles rippling as he runs!"

"Mina please-" the brunette managed to wheeze as she was pulled onto her feet, "I'm gonna-"

Whatever protest she was gonna give died in her throat as she bore witness to the green lightning surrounding Izuku. The chaotic arcs she had grown used to slowly wrapping around his frame like coiled snakes, almost organically ebbing and flowing around him.

Ochako's mouth felt dry, licking her lips as she leaned against an even more surprised Mina "That's different."

"He's doing that?" Momo muttered with shock, eyes wide open. "I thought that took time to charge- wouldn't that cost him the start?"

"Normally, sure. But if he is doing that…" Katsumi squinted. _What are you planning, Deku? _

"You said you saw him during the Stain thing, was he doing that?" Hakagure mumbled, a hand on her chin.

"Nope- he did have lightning when he was paralyzed but- nothing like that," Katsumi mumbled.

"And go!"

Izuku's form lurched forward with speed neither the observers nor the camera-drone expected, kicking off the ground with the utmost precision and power, shooting forward in the perfect 20-degree angle to skim over the maze of pipes, his arc ending and restarting feet finding the precise stepping points and shooting him faster and faster with each addition to his momentum.

"...Well then." Saiko coughed into her hand as the camera drone zoomed forward to try and catch up to his rapidly retreating form. "Seems like he just proved my hypothesis incorrect."

Mina had flashbacks of his run in the first test Aizawa had given them. The moving force of nature that was Izuku had somehow added even more power to each motion, pushing him well past that could be imaginable.

"It's like a combination of Tsuyu's moves and Tomoyo's…" Ochako mumbled, blinking as if she wasn't believing her eyes.

Momo's eyes were focused on his path, the pipes he was bouncing over.

Even after crashing with the force of 300 Kilograms striking at them, none were damaged. "He's… either holding back, or the piping in the test area is stronger than it looks too."

"What do you-" Katsumi noticed the lack of damage herself, "Oh, now he's just showing off!"

Hakagure laughed heartily at the sound of Katsumi's foot meeting her mouth.

_Missed seeing him in action like that. _

* * *

Izuku panted next to All Might, beating everyone there by a good margin. Five percent was still not as easy to sustain as he would've preferred but it was well worth the effort.

_"W̩o͟ṳld̟'̮ve̠ b̡e͍en͎ ̩f̟a͉s͔t̗e̮r ͜i͉f y̠o̳u̢ ju͎s̫t ͅg͖a̼ve ̳i̬t͕ your al̗l̘ w̜h̗e̖n̥ yo̹u͜ kic͜k̼ed ̭o͍ff."̳ _Nana pouted inside him.

_Well, it's a test, I doubt I would've gotten good grades if I did collateral damage. _

"Good job, Young Midoriya! You are getting-" All Might's smile stretched a little wider, "leaps and bounds ahead with your use of your quirk!"

He groaned. Of course, the dad jokes were only gonna get worse now that she was dating his mother.

_She is dating my mom. _

_All Might- is almost my- _

He only broke out of his comatose trance when Tomoyo tapped him on the shoulder for a job well done, taking him out of the land of pure insanity.

* * *

"So," Doi broke the silence of the changing rooms, focusing on the much taller new student, "you didn't really show off your quirk in training, what is it?"

"Oh," Saiko turned to face the shorter blonde, her sports bra swaying with the motion, "mine has to do with IQ amplification- processing power of my brain- doesn't really help with physical activities such as this-"

The blonde seemed lost for a moment before it dawned on her "Oh- so like Aizawa, you are essentially quirkless when it comes to physicality?"

Saiko felt taken aback for a second before the blonde smiled brightly. "Man, you probably trained hard to get in! Kiri! Don't you think so?"

"YEAH! Really manly! You took on those bots without a quirk! That's amazing!"

That made the taller woman swell with pride. She never got used to being complimented over the hard-earned success she had in the practical examination. "Yeah, it was hard to get in, but I'm here. And I think I'm on the way to becoming a better hero."

"Indeed!" Tomoyo added with an aura of maternal pride. "Hope you all studied for our upcoming examinations, for all of our paths to be better heroes."

Mina and Doi flinched, then looked at each other with determined expressions. They both knew who they had to ask for help.

Izuku sneezed on the other side of the wall.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Momo turned to face Saiko, "Izuku wanted me to convey a message, Aizawa Sensei asked to see you after classes- something about 'starting your training'?"

"Oh that glorious man- I should go thank him after this," Saiko said aloud much to the confusion and irritations of the others.

"...I don't like the tone of that, beansprout." Katsumi hissed slamming her locker closed. "Since when are you and Izuku so close?"

"Oh!" Saiko's mouth turned to a smug smirk, looking down on the shorter blonde. "I've decided that I want to get intimate with him. Hope you don't mind."

Mina grumbled inwardly as a fight broke out.

Maybe she should just stop fucking around and really toss her hat into the ring too. And have him wrap his strong arms…

She bit her lip.

_Maybe I really need to do that already. _

* * *

"_You̞ ̨ha̞ve ̙b̯ee͟n ͈goin͈g thr͉o͎u̪gh̞ thos̤e͇ for̝ ̗h͢ou͜rs͈ n̹ow-͔_ _" _Nana almost whined, "_th͖e̲ a̩m̱o͚unt ̪of̯ pu͇r͜e̻ ̧thi̟r͎st y̫ou ha͜v̼e̜ ̯b̦e̜e̫n r̰e͔adi̙ng̭ ͢i̟s ̱scar͇i͚ng ev̟e̼n m̪e̞-̠_ _" _

Izuku groaned, tossing another letter from the pile he had amassed after the sports festival to the side. It was a formal apology from Mt. lady- followed by some pin-up pictures of the heroine in… more than her hero suit.

He wasn't gonna accept how good she looked in a dress out of her hero suit dammit.

_"Bṳt̝ I ẉill. H͍e͎ṟ ̥mask̻ ̝doe̻s͚ her͉ ḓir͈ty, ͉y͈ou͜ s̺hou͙ld ̲ge̥t M̱ei͇ ͔to̡ ̳d̜e͜sign̜ ̩h̲e̮r͟ a̞no̮the͚r ọne!͓ ͎S̠om̹ething͓ ͜t̩o̦ b̮ri̭ng ̺o̡ut t̝hose ͈e͓y̥e̤s͓ ͉o͖f̰ hers!"ͅ _

_Shut. _

He sighed, leaning back on his chair and breathing out to calm down. At least she hadn't sent panties or something. He still didn't know what to do with the few he got.

"_F̠ling̝ em'̢ to̜ tḩe ̦mo̯on w̟i͖th the͎ ̧h̰e̯l̘p of Oc͟hako̡?̞ Co̱u͚ld̮ ̻ḅe ̮ą fụn ̖bo̩nding͇ e̬x͔p͖eri̗e̜nc̭e̦._"̦ 

_Ha, ha. _

He turned to look at two letters sent by the Pussycats. He respected the rescue hero team and was honestly kinda scared at what he might find in the two.

Nothing like meeting his heroes to destroy them.

_"Y͕o̘u w̰ere p̻ut͚t̘ing tͅh̳e̻m͚ ͚on̲ too high of a ͢p̟edestal̦, to ̭be̥g͚in wit̜h͎,̯ ̣t̟he̞y͔ ̗ar̗e jus͕ṭ ̙h̥uman ͢to̲o̧ ̻y̦o̟u k͓n͈o̖ẉ. W̨i̯țh n̢ee̮ds̳ ̹an̝ḓ…"̦ _he felt the ghost of a sensation of his earlobe getting nibbled, "_De̲s̻iͅres̰~"͜_

_God- fucking- stop that. _He grumbled, carefully opening the envelope from the team as a whole. He didn't like the aura the one from Pixiebob was generating.

The neatly folded letter felt heavy in his hands- unlike the others that felt like thinly veiled booty calls of women that had been looking for someone like him. This one-

This one felt like it had emotion behind it.

_"Th̦ḙre ̡yọu̼ ̱g͜o͢, p͚u̱tt͙in̳g̜ ͖t̹h̩ęm͙ on͉ a̩ ͖p͟e͢d̩e̝staͅl̖ ͢ąg̢ai̢n,̥ eve̪n̖ ̨bef̖o̳re yo͉u rea͍d̺ i̮t." _

"Fine," he huffed aloud, carefully unfolding the paper, noticing the picture attached to the bottom, behind the page. He fought the urge to look at the picture right then and there- but considering the track record, he decided to skip on that before he could guess the content of the image.

He was not about to look at something lewd. Again.

_"Izuku Midoriya, we, the Wild Wild Pussycats, owe you a great deal of thanks.-" _

Ok, that wasn't a start he was expecting. Could it be about-

He blinked, remembering Tiger's situation, his heart thumping a little harder on his chest.

_Seriously? Is it about... _

He went back to the letter.

_"I am not quite sure how much you know about this but Tiger was born in the wrong body, for the lack of a better phrase. It has been causing him great discomfort through the years, damaging his mental state steadily. But with your reveal at the sports festival, we found new hope.-" _

"_ Oh, _" Nana mumbled in his head, somber and muted. "_Th̻at̞'ş… w͎o̦w̝.̤"̺_

Izuku felt like he had a death grip on the paper. He had known about it, but he didn't know it was that bad. Then again, he knew how it felt to look like he was in the wrong body- He was scared to imagine how it would've felt if he was truly stuck in the wrong body.

"_ He had to stay in his circumstances, for the fear of damaging his quirk. After all, he too wanted to be a hero. And he believed he was giving the greatest sacrifice by remaining the way he was. But, it was eating him from the inside out. Now, after your show, he knows he doesn't need to bear that, and can truly be who he is. _"

Nana felt choked up in his head. _"I kn̤o̺w I j̤ok͙eḓ ͈a͇b͍o̟u̘t c̲ha̪ngin̜g̡ th̲e w͍o͍r͙ld th̝at dayͅ ̹bųt-_ _" _

He nodded gently. _We really changed someone's world… _

"_ He, well, the whole team, now has the courage to go through with the operation- so he can be who he is supposed to be, so from all of our hearts, thank you." _

He let go of the breath he was holding, looking at the bottom of the page

_"Signed, Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, Ragdoll, and Tiger." _

Beneath the signature, there was a sketch of four cats laying on a patch of grass. Peaceful and serene, with the implication of a gentle breeze with the grass leaning to one side.

It was, in a word, adorable, adding to the overall emotion behind the letter it was getting to him.

He unhooked the paperclip, pulling the picture previously hidden by the letter. It was a picturesque sight of the four heroes laying under a tree, gentle breeze ruffling their hair.

He turned the picture around

_P.S. Don't share the drawing of the cats. -R _

_"Th͇a̡t̤ ̜w̧as̙ ͕too̳ w͉hol̯e̹somȩ a̝nd͜ I͓ am ̼m͍a̲d that͓ ̰I̲ ͈a̫m ̗t̡h̠is ̠i̞nt̻o ͟it.̝ " _

He smiled lightly. He never thought he could help in such a way, but he was happy he could.

* * *

Mina stood before the door that felt… bigger than it ever did before, weighing her options.

_Confess, truly and maybe you get in, or don't and you definitely won't. _

She didn't know probability that well but she damn well knew even a six percent was more than an absolute zero.

Not to mention it was starting to get this weird pit in her stomach when the new girl made it so clear what she was gonna do.

Good thing Izuku had asked to be alone after classes, his girlfriends relaxing on the couches of the common room.

_Maybe I should ask them first… _

"Mina?"

Hakagure's voice broke her out of her trance, her head snapping to her approaching invisible friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I- uhhh…"

She really didn't have an answer to that, and she could feel Hakagure squinting at her even if she couldn't see her.

"Was gonna ask if Izuku could help me study!" She quickly lied hoping her friend would just let it go.

"Momo was planning on holding a study session downstairs- don't you wanna join that?"

"I- uh-"

Hakagure got closer than she ever did before, Mina feeling the heat from her face against hers, "Or do you wanna do stuff with Izuku?"

Her face turned lilac instantly. "Tooru!"

"Hehe! Did I hit the nail on the head?"

Mina's hand found its place on her shoulder. "Well, why are you here then, huh!?"

It was Tooru's turn to grow quiet, "I uhh-"

Mina too pushed forward, her bust pressing against the other woman's. "I'm listening."

"I- I… came for a hug, ok?" She puffed, her shoulders sagging. "He gives the best hugs and I felt bad after not doing that well on our hero exercise!"

Mina felt bad over that. "Hey- it's fine, sorry for pushing- I guess I got embarrassed."

"It's fine- I'm sorry for teasing you too…"

"You still wanna see if he would let us in?"

"Why not? I wanna see if he does give these 'best hugs' you speak of."

"Didn't he hug you before?"

* * *

Izuku sighed, letting the letter down and picking up the other one, one with Pixie-bob's name written on top with a heart-shaped paw print on it that made his stomach churn.

_"..̰.I̤ ̟am ͎sc̢aͅre̼ḏ.͎"̳ _

_I shouldn't open it… _

_"̬We ̬c͜a͟n'͟t̫ ̻ch̲ic͢k͜en̰ ͔ou̟t̺ ̲now, ̪com̥e̗ o̜n!"̫ ̭_

He sighed and conceded curiosity overtaking him too. "Let's get it over with."

He opened the envelope, sighing in relief that it wasn't a pile of lewder pictures that spilled out, but another neat letter.

_"̘Aw̗www̢,̧ ̡w̺er̼e yo̪u͚ h͜opi̦n͇g̱ f̡or ͖tͅḩa̬t̬ ̫ins̘t̰e̢ad?"̫ ̺_

He ignored that question.

He unfolded the letter to see surprisingly cutesy handwriting from the blonde of The Pussycats.

"_ Hello Izzy! Can I call you that? I hope you don't mind- I'm guessing you already read Mandalay's PR-speak letter from us, but I wanted to send one of my own to really tell you how thankful I am!" _

_...I don't trust this. _

_"O̱h r͎ela̱x,̦ ̢Ịzu̠k̥u̹,̘" _Nana mumbled, _"wha̬t̮'s̹ t̰ḫe͍ ̣w͕o͜r̗st̨ ̨s͜h̟e coulḓ'͜v̖e̖ s̬ent?͔"_

He didn't trust her smirk in his head either.

_"I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out we couldn't really take on interns as we are busy with Tiger's transition- Even as much as I would love_ _to get to test my quirk against yours in a hands-on spar~ Oh well, maybe some other time~" _

_"̨I͙ l̞ikẹ her̼.̳" _

_You would. _

"_ If you need any thoughts for a cold night, well… hope you enjoy the picture attached~ Mail me one back if you do, you have no idea how ho-" _

He averted his gaze with a wince.

_"̫O͎h̰ ͅI r͢e̟al̞ly l̟ike̮ ̣he̬r~ ̩y̹o̫u͍ sho̤u͎l͓d sen̲d͙ s̝o͔m̦e͎t̡h͚i̢n̬g̦ b̼ac̯ḵ!͢" _

_Nana- I won- _

A loud argument got his attention away from both the letter and the more than horny backseat driver in his head.

It sounded like Mina and Hagakure, but he couldn't quite figure out what they were saying, slowly getting up from his desk he approached the door to his dorm and opened it

Only to have both Mina and Hagakure knock on his pecs.

"Uh?"

Mina looked lost for a second, before pulling her hand away while Hagakure kept her hand on the surface, feeling his chest. "Seriously, how are you so hard yet soft at the same time?"

He came to his senses after the comment, "Oh- hey you two, how can I help?"

"I…" Hagakure pulled her hand away, "I kinda wanted a hug, if that was ok?"

"Oh, sure," his free hand found its way on her head petting her gently, "were you bummed about the test?"

"Ugghhhh- don't remind me, I did terribly on it." she mumbled, leaning into the contact with a soft mewl, "Thank you though…"

"I keep telling all of you, not everyone's gonna excel in everything; you shouldn't take it to heart," he muttered, pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her gently, the woman cooing at the physical affection and contact.

Mina felt like she wanted to do that with him too, till the day she died.

_Wait… what is he… _

She leaned closer to see what his hand was holding, neither Izuku or Hagakure noticing her swiping the letter and the attached imag-

It was a picture of Pixie-Bob wearing a swimsuit that left really nothing to the imagination and posing with a seductive look that made her blush-

_Even the heroes are- THAT'S IT. _

"Izuku!"

Her sudden increase of volume got the two friends cuddling out of their trance, Izuku's eyes locking into hers.

She gulped as she stared into those green eyes that took her breath away every single time.

"**_I love you!_**"


	65. Love is a clash of lightnings

"You know…" Ochako muttered as she, Mei, Momo, and Katsumi relaxed on the couch, away from the main hall where the rest of their classmates were having a movie night Mei skipping through blueprints on her phone, "Izuku spent a week with Miruko."

"...and?" Mei mumbled back, not really paying attention.

"Do you think she came onto him?"

The channel surfing ceased, and all faces turned to Ochako.

Mei's head tilted to the side, hand cupping her chin. "I mean, from what I saw in the sports festival… she might've?"

"He might've been receptive too…" Katsumi admitted with a scratch of her neck, "He had a thing for her."

Mei's eyebrows furrowed. "He had a thing for the hyper, grumpy, angry bunny and you thought he didn't love you back?"

"I- uh-" the blonde blinked, "am I that much like Miruko?"

"The personalities match up from what I know…" Momo added with a hum. "But wait does that mean…"

"I didn't ask him but…" Ochako blushed. "With his… endurance last time, I doubt he… y'know..."

"I'm torn between punching him in the throat for turning down Miruko, or hugging him," Katsumi huffed.

"We really need to set up rules," Momo admitted with a sigh. "...would any of you be opposed if someone else joined anyway?"

"..." Katsumi looked away.

Mei shook her head with a smile, "I really don't mind as long as he loves them back- and I guess if she got along with me?"

"I'm… yeah- what Mei said." Ochako admitted with a blush. "I'm kinda- I was kinda worried if he would focus on one of us more than the other but… if it's just going to be like this, I'm not against more in our relationship."

"You two just say that cause you-" Katsumi bit her tongue looking away with a heavy blush. "I'm against it before I get a turn," she hissed out, low enough for only them to hear.

"Oh-" Momo mumbled with a sigh, "are you still mad over him not wanting to…"

Katsumi's eyes shined with anger. "You aren't?"

"I mean-" Mei interrupted with her own manic energy, "Pretty sure it was mostly cause he wanted your first time to be more special, you know?"

Ochako hummed, "I know mine was…"

"That doesn't-" Katsumi huffed, deflating into the couch. "It'd better be good."

Kyoka was trying her best to hide her blush over in the kitchen area, along with her snickers.

* * *

Izuku blinked blankly, the words failing to register.

Mina panted as if the action of confessing alone had taken the wind out of her, her eyes drilling holes in the floor. "I- I love you, Izuku…"

"I know you- can't…" her hands clasped together, twiddling her thumbs together, "You can't say it back but I…"

Her shoulders shuddered as she took in a deep breath, the moment passing as she slowly realized what she just did.

"Mina-"

"Sorry!"

Before she could run away, his hand gripped around her wrist, stopping her from fleeing.

"Mina it's fine- It's just moving a little too fast for me..." He sighed, ruffling his own hair. "I need to talk with the others," his green eyes locked onto her gold, keeping constant eye contact, trying to convey how fine everything was, "Is that okay?"

She shuddered, not knowing what to do even after most of her body just wanted to flee, get away from the emotions physically, but Izuku had her held down firmly, anchoring her into that moment.

"It's…" she breathed out her shoulders relaxing, his firm yet tender grip helping her with that. _It wasn't a no… _"It's fine…" slowly calming down her impulse of running away fading. "So… should I wait here?"

"How about your room?" he suggested rubbing calming circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, "I'll be there soon."

"Okay…" she sighed, pulling her hand away from his, looking up at him, her eyes shining softly with affection, "I'll be there."

Hagakure looked at the two of them, before hugging into Mina's side with a giggle, "I'll keep you company, if that's alright with you?"

Izuku smiled at the two and patted their heads. "Thanks Tooru, I just need a second."

_".̳..you ̧know ͙t̝hey wou͇l̥d p̼ro̜b͚ably̱ ̮be ̱o͇k̘a̞y ͜wit͖h̝ ̰t͜h̼i̤s ͟rig̦ht?" _Nana chimed in, just as the two left his side.

_Probably is not good enough. _

* * *

"All I'm saying is, I'm the best at it," Katsumi rambled with a cocky smirk on her face, leaning back on the couch, "No contest."

"Last I checked, you haven't really done it with him." Mei postulated, poking her ribs, making the woman flinch and hiss, "Not like me and Ochako have."

Katsumi's eyebrow twitched, cheeks blossoming into a blush. "I'll send a picture when I do then, goggles. Show you how it's really done!"

"Are we seriously fighting over who gives the best cuddles?" Momo questioned with a surprisingly elegant raised eyebrow, "If so, I think we all know who the clear winner is."

"He doesn't count!" Katsumi almost spat out, "There is no way any of us can match his technique, not that it would matter since no one else can engulf us like he can-"

The explosive blonde stuttered, realizing what she just admitted, "Not one word."

"Aw, is Queen Explod-o-Kill feeling shy? Even after saying so many blunt things?" Kyoka snickered, her jacks gesturing at the blonde. "Where is the-"

"So you _also _admit Izuku gives the best hugs?" Mei interrupted, making the punk stutter and stop with her fluster growing rapidly. "Bold"

"Haha! Get FUCKED, Jacks!" Katsumi hollered, laughing harder at the flustered mess Kyoka had become.

"Unlike you," Ochako added absentmindedly, taking a sip of the tea Momo had brewed them.

Mei could hear Katsumi's pride crack like glass, emphasized by the actual sound of glass cracking somewhere that she couldn't tell.

"Ochako!" Momo yelped, trying not to laugh too hard, "you can't just-"

"Guys," Izuku breathed out, exiting the stairwell grinding the conversations to a halt. "We need to talk."

The atmosphere of the room changed, the women dropping everything they were doing. The tone of his voice had said enough about how critical it was for him.

* * *

"Oh, you are…" Saiko snapped her fingers as she tried to remember the purple-haired woman's name, "you are the one from the general course that made it into the finals, took down Yaoyorozu- the one with the mind control quirk-"

"You aren't here to make friends, you are here to catch up." Aizawa hissed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Got your test results from Vlad, your cardio and strength are good enough, so we won't need to slow down. Hitsuki, grab your capture tape, we are going through the exercises again."

"Exercises?" Saiko mumbled, tilting her head, swaying her hip out, "Are you going to teach us how to use your capture weapon?"

"You ask too many questions," the tired teacher huffed, pulling out another tape from her neck, tossing it over to the taller girl. "Shut up, watch my lead. This took me too long to learn myself. But you two will have a guide. Not to mention a sparring partner."

The tired demeanor seemed to melt off her face, replaced with a manic smile that just screamed 'Aizawa'

"This is going to be the most rational and efficient way to learn, so don't expect it to be easy."

Both students looked at each other for a second then back at their mentor.

"Right!"

* * *

"So… you confessed." Hagakure sighed leaning against Mina in the pink-skinned girl's bed. "That surprised me."

"Mhm..." she sighed, hugging her knees closer to her chest, "it just kinda happened really, I wasn't thinking at all."

"You? Thinking? Since when?" Hagakure joked, prodding her side with a smile in her voice.

Mina yelped, covering her ribs with a hiss "Tooru!" then stuttered, bursting out laughing, "Yeah- I've… always kinda went with my gut, didn't I?"

"Pretty sure that's Kiri rubbing off on you," the invisible woman commented, hand on her chin from what Mina could tell from her shirt. "The whole 'living life without regrets is so manly' thing and all."

"Heh… maybe…" she hummed rubbing her own head. "I never thought it would be like this-"

"Would be scarier if you did. Cause that would've been _a time machine, _" her friend teased with an over-emphasis at the end, "Honestly though… you are braver than I am…"

"Oh… you too?" Mina sighed, pulling her plushie close and giving it a tight hug.

"I'm… not actually sure." Hagakure admitted, letting off a sigh "I do wanna spend alot of time with him but I don't know if it's just physical… Or if I really wanna get emotional with him- _really _emotional"

"Ah…" Mina sighed, looking at where her friend was sitting. She kinda had a point.

_Do I really love him? Or is it just… lust? _

She sighed, trying to get the images of his eyes and body out of her head.

"I'm not that sure now either…"

* * *

"Mina confessed?!" Ochako sputtered as the girls filled Izuku's dorm room, "Where is she now? I wanted to congratulate-"

"I told her to hang tight in her room. She's with Tooru right now."

"You didn't say anything back?" Mei muttered looking up at her boyfriend with a pout, "Zuku- thats… wow. You must've really hurt her."

"You should've at least told her that you would think about it." Katsumi mumbled in a rare sight of quiet washing her demeanor.

"I _did _tell her I would think about it. That's why I'm here, guys. I just… didn't want to give her a yes or no until we had all talked first."

"I mean… if this is you asking permission to add her to our _thing _," Ochako mumbled, sitting next to him and clasping his hand, "I'm sure you know the answer to that."

"I just wanted to make sure…" he sighed, leaning against Momo's gentle touch, making her laugh lightly and kiss his temple.

"I'm glad you did… I'm sure we all are," she cooed against his ear, gently nuzzling against him. "_ I missed you… _"

He chuckled lightly in response, "Sorry, was reading the mail. Nothing more than booty calls for the most part… but one stood out, I'll show it to you all later?" He asked, glancing at the women around him.

"I'd love that~" Momo mumbled. The rest nodding with smiles.

"As long as you let me explode the rest of the mail, I'm game, you lovebird." Katsumi sneered, but then the malicious smirk on her face faltered. "We kinda assumed but… do you love her?"

"I…" he sighed leaning away from Momo to look at his lap. Remembering how she had fallen in on it just a few weeks ago, teasing him in his room after the wall incident. "...I'm not that sure if it is love…"

"How can you be unsure after being in love with four people?" Mei mumbled, taking a seat on his lap and looking up into his eyes. "Isn't the feeling the same?"

"Not… really?" he tilted his head, before leaning down and giving the pink inventor a fast kiss on her lips, "I feel different towards all of you- but I know it's love. With her…"

"With her?" Ochako repeated, goading him to continue.

"I'm not that sure, maybe a crush… maybe it would blossom into something more if I gave it time," he huffed, "or maybe I do love her and didn't really notice it so far since I never really thought about it that way."

"Curious, why did she confess now anyway? Did you do something?" Momo questioned, kissing his neck coyly.

"I- hn~" He groaned, the sensation jolting his system a moment later, "I think- she saw one of the pictures I got, and well… maybe she saw our relationship in a new light?"

"She had been on the edge for a while too." Katsumi sighed, rubbing her face, "Remember when we came out to the class?"

"Yeah…" Mei mumbled, leaning against Izuku, "you should go- tell her it's fine. She probably feels like what Mecha Might looked like after the Sports Festival."

"Yeah…" Ochako huffed. "I know what that feels like."

Izuku turned his head and pulled the brunette into a searing kiss that lasted for just a second. "Sorry about that too…"

Ochako mewled in approval, her eyes half-lidded and lips turned in a cute smile, "S'fine, you make it up to me every day~" She leaned in to give him another kiss, and pulled back just as fast as he had. "Now, go make it up to her too. We know it's bothering you."

Izuku sighed, "Sorry it's weird like this- and not simple..." He paused. "After she and I talk, would it be alright if I brought her back here? So we can all talk? I feel like we need to maybe start to do this if I get any more surprise admissions of love." He finished the sentence with a dry laugh, hoping to convey that it was partly a joke.

Mei chuckled, hopping off of his lap and pulling him up, "Well, yeah," she looked around the room, taking note of how all the other women were nodding. "I can't believe we're dating the best man on the planet. Go talk to her, then bring her back and we can navigate this whole thing."

"What Goggles said," Katsumi added pulling him in for a quick kiss. "Don't forget that we're burning thot-letters tonight though!"

"We love you," Momo added, "Now go, talk to her before I wanna snuggle for longer."

"Yeah… thanks, girls."

With that he left the room, leaving the girls to their own devices.

"I'm gonna be mad if he doesn't make it up to her," Mei mumbled, blowing a raspberry and crashing onto his bed with a sigh.

"I think we all would," Ochako added rolling next to her. "Wonder what mail he got…"

"We are not snooping around in his room," Momo mumbled with a huff. She then smiled. "But if we see something… well he did invite us in."

* * *

_"Don̗'̹t͜ y̗ou th̘in͟k̗ ͔it̞'s w̤e̮i͉rd̤ y̘ou ̻ha̪ven'̙t̪ ͉be̢e̱n̨ ̩i̡n t͈h͓i̡s ͈p̝ar̹ṱ ͜o̗f ͎t̙h̲e̙ ͔bu̧įld̤i͢n͙g̪ ̯s͉inͅcẹ ͓y̞ou͜ got͎ ̱her̲e?̙" _

_I've never been invited to this side.. so, no? _Izuku muttered in his head coming up the stairs to where he knew Mina's room was from the room number list.

He knocked at the door of the normally energetic pinkette, waiting patiently for a response from the other side.

He got what he was waiting for when Hagakure opened the door, bouncing to the side. "She's all yours!"

He patted his invisible friend's head with a smile. "Thanks for keeping her company- I appreciate it…"

"Mhm- but don't get it wrong. I did it for her." She hummed happily before pulling away and staring up to him so harshly that he swore he could see her eyes for a second. "And don't hurt her feelings. I'll-"

He pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. "I won't I promise- and thank you for being such a great friend."

Hagakure mewled, whimpering about how 'unfair' it all was before pushing away from him and twirling, "Fine, I'll be downstairs. Don't hurt her."

With that, she walked off, leaving him and the woman waiting for him behind the door.

He sighed and turned the knob, walking in silently and taking in the sight.

In the midst of this confession, and the heartache it had brought about he never got to really think about it, but this was the first time he was seeing Mina's room.

_"O̠h ̥s͎ẖe̝ h͙as̨ some p͓i̳nk͕ f͕luf͇fy ̻cuf̣fs,̙ I c̪a̹n͔ ̘șme̢ll̳ ̯'̨em,͕" _Nana teased as his eyes scanned the frankly gaudy room.

Dark pink and black covered every bit of the room, contrasting with the bubblegum pink woman sitting on her bed, hugging a pink stuffed bunny.

"Hey," he breathed out, his shoulders relaxing, "sorry it took so long…"

"It's fine… sorry for dropping that onto you like that…" she muttered against the head of the bunny, sighing gently, "I thought about it and… maybe I said it prematurely."

"You mean your confession?" Izuku asked, taking a seat on the bed too, crossing a leg under his knee to face her. "...Why do you think that?"

"I kinda… said it in the heat of the moment after seeing one of the pictures you got…" She smiled back with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I might've pulled the trigger early…"

"So… you reacted to one of the pictures?" he hummed gently, looking at her desk, turning away from her. "You know.. I was thinking the same thing"

Mina shuddered, looking down her eyes growing wet. "You were?"

"Things… were going a little too fast, but-" he turned back with a smile, "...I didn't dislike where they were going… if that makes sense."

Mina's heart thumped against her chest. He could tell as much from her flinch. Or he was just projecting with how much his own heart was throbbing against his sternum.

He fought the urge to lean forward and wipe her eyes.

"You… liked where things were going?" she asked softly, voice sounding ready to shatter like glass. "Wh- what do you mean?"

"I... kinda have a crush on this pink, dazzling girl in my class…" he mumbled with a soft smile. "But I'm not sure it's love…"

Mina's beautiful eyes widened, the woman drawing a breath in. "O-oh…"

"Maybe… if I gave it time, I would?" he finished, rubbing the back of his head. "But- I know that's a heavy thing to just say I-"

He was silenced when Mina crawled forward and hugged him tightly, pushing her head against his neck, "I… I think that sounds perfect."

Izuku hugged her back, taking her scent in, enjoying the contact.

It really did feel different than any other time she had hugged him. It was more intimate, soothing and arousing at the same time somehow.

"I have a crush on this- big buff softie in class too…" Mina sighed against his neck, sniffling and pulling back, "I just want to kiss his cheek and see what color he turns."

"H-"

Izuku's inquisitive sound got cut off by a sudden kiss on his cheek from the resident alien queen, his cheeks flushing red in response

"M-Mina!"

The pinkette laughed, leaning against him and causing the two to fall off the bed, Izuku's back taking the brunt of the force with Mina sprawling over his chest, still smiling. "I'm not even sorry. You are adorable."

He took a moment to take it all in, looking up at the woman smiling, the sadness behind her eyes gone. Her hands on his chest, legs straddling his waist still on her bed.

_"Oh,͈ w̢h̝ąt̻'s ͅtha̲t-̼ I̠ ̩think̺ ̹I ̗jus̯t fel͓t̩ love ̳i̘nͅ y͉ou̠r ̟c̦o̺l̢d dea̫d͈ he͉ar̯t," _Nana teased somewhere in the back of his mind.

_Maybe you did. _He smiled back, wrapping his arms around Mina and pulling her into a rib-aching hug.

* * *

"Oh wow," Mei mumbled, grabbing the picture with Pixie-Bob that had slipped back into the room at one point, her eyes focusing onto the small polaroid. "Didn't know these still existed. And she is hot, that's a plus."

"Gimmie that!" Katsumi huffed, grabbing the picture out of her hand and glaring at it. First Mt. Lady, now Pixie-Bob.

Both blonde, both with more feminine bodies. Both sending her boyfriend almost-nudes.

Part of her whined that she didn't have breasts like those two. Part of her knew Izuku loved her even if she wasn't the most 'feminine'.

_'Maybe that's why he hasn't done anything with you,' _a dark voice in her head mumbled, silenced by a firm shake of her head.

"God- how many of these did he get?" she hissed, tossing the picture onto the pile on Izuku's desk.

"How many single heroines are there?" Ochako mumbled, rolling in Izuku's bed and staring at his ceiling. Somehow, she had missed even that.

_Love's weird… _

A knock alerted all, before Izuku slowly opened the door, his other hand intertwined with Mina's

"We… had our talk," he mumbled with a smile. "We're gonna test the waters. Taking it slow."

Mina smiled and nodded., "Hope you four don't mind me crashing the party.."

Mei was at her side, already pulling her into a side-hug., "Same hair!"

"Same hair!"

Both chuckled as Mei pulled her into the room, already bombarding her with questions over her hero suit and quirk.

Momo grabbed Izuku by the wrist pulling him in too hugging his side, "See, that wasn't that bad was it?"

"You are only saying that cause you wanna see more romance happening," Izuku huffed with a tired smile, "but… thank you."

Momo chuckled, kissing his cheek, then pulling his head down for a kiss on the lips. "Don't mention it- either of it," she added with a wink.

"Now… which letter was the one that was interesting?"


	66. It was her chaos that made her beautiful

Mei blinked as Izuku read out the last of the letters from the Pussycats, rubbing under her nose gently. "Oh…"

Momo was sniffling lightly and Ochako looked close to breaking out in tears, Mina smiling a smile that was closer to a frown than anything happy.

Katsumi blinked as blankly as she was feeling.

"...Wow- you really…" Ochako breathed out before hugging Izuku's side with a smile. "I can't believe that you helped them so much…"

Izuku smiled and wrapped an arm around her too, pulling her against his frame. "I know… I never thought I would change so much by doing that."

"You didn't?" Mina questioned, her smile progressively turning more teasing. "I thought you'd be the one most understanding of what that would feel like…"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her chest against his back. "Can't you imagine seeing a quirked man on national TV when you didn't know you had your quirk?"

"..." The thought hit Izuku like a freight train, making him flinch. "I… never thought about it like that- but now I am…"

_"M̭an, ͢ţh̤ere͈ mu̫s̲t̮ b̝e a̼ ̜l̟ot o̲f̺ me̻n ̲ȩn͖vi̞o̲us o͙f ͔y̝ou͈," _Nana muttered at the back of his head, putting his worries on the forefront.

_I _**_really _**_don't wanna think about that. _

"And… Izuku, it's gonna be a weird thing to ask but can I sleep over today…?" the pink-skinned woman added, nuzzling the back of his neck. "Please?"

"Wait- you thought you weren't?" Mei added with tangible shock then ran around to Izuku's front with a pout. "Are we not sleeping tonight? You didn't tell me!"

"I-" Izuku chuckled, pulling her for a hug with his free arm. "We can, don't worry."

Mina was the first to cheer. "Whoo! Sleepover!"

Momo smiled at the sight serenely, rubbing her eyes with pure happiness looking at the scene of her lovers giggling and setting up for sleep.

Katsumi gave her a sidelong glance with a smirk. "You getting sappy again?"

"Yeah," she breathed out, turning to smile at her brightly. "I was there when history was made- and I've never thought I would ever be this happy in my life"

Katsumi looked away with a gentle blush. "Told you, sappy."

* * *

"Alright, you hatchlings!" All Might called out, Mecha-Might finally on her side once more as the hero class began. "Today we are going to be doing some one-on-one sparring! I'll announce the groups in a second!"

The mechanical goliath cracked its neck, his red eye glowing brighter. "**Hook͓i̠nͅg̬ i͇n͙to̼ ̩t̪he̺ ̺c̖a̙me̠ra̪ ̯sy̘s̺te͢mͅs̮…̲ ̜co̗nnect͉i͈o͈n ͕se̳c̦ured̜, r͔e̩a̠dy to͍ o̟bse̮rv͖e͙.̰**"

"You heard the T.A.! First group-"

Izuku tuned out the names being called out, looking at his gauntlets. In the fight with Stain, he had almost died because he had held back too much. He had to get a better handle on the thin line that was his power output.

_"Ea̰sierͅ ͟said—̪țẖo̭uͅg̩h̗t̼—t̨han do̦ne. Even͙ w̰ith ͕Tota̧l Com̰m̡a͉n̢d," _Nana chimed in. "H̠o͖n͈est̨l͚y, it̼ ̲mi̟g̙h͙t͇ ̤be̞ w̩o̠rse͚ ̪be̗c͇a̦u̯se̦ ̦y̭o͎u ha̳v͖e̳ T̹o̝ta̗l̬ ̝Com̳mand;͖ yo͇u͎ ̟en̼d̠ ̞up th̜inͅḳi̗ng t̝oo͇ ̻mu̢c̩h̜ ̧f͚or t̹ẖe͙ ̲m̪otion͜ ̻and̳ t̜hat ma̘kes̙ ̥you sͅlowe͖r̫."͕ ̦

_Yeah- I'll need to improve on that… hopefully I'm paired with someone that can help- _

"Young Bakugou and Young Midoriya!" All Might called out, the two mentioned snapping into attention and throwing looks at each other.

Katsumi smirked maliciously, her eyes shining.

Izuku grinned, his helmet folding around his head, vizor flashing and turning to the animated eyes burning with green determination.

The blonde licked her lips. "Rematch time. And no bullshit this time."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

Izuku panted, the light burns on his chest stinging with the exertion, watching Katsumi do the same, his eyes drifting to her heaving chest and back up as he pushed the thought of her shirtless away

With the addition of his percentile output, he was keeping up with her in terms of raw speed. But she still outclassed him when it came to sudden directional changes, the recoil of her blasts was faster than he could manage.

It was evident she was getting better at it too. Each clash of attacks she threw in another smaller explosion that changed her angle just enough to throw off his counter.

Katsumi was scary as an opponent, that much was true. But her learning curve was scarier.

"What's wrong, Deku? Winded already?," she taunted with a smirk. Even with how tired the two had become the smirk was still genuine, she was relishing this.

Funny. He was, too.

There was something keenly exhilarating about slamming against the wall that was Katsumi's sheer battle prowess, the wall shifting and growing with each time he did, barely getting one step ahead of it.

He was still chasing her lead but the gap was getting smaller and smaller.

"You know I'm not," he smiled back, his eyes getting that twinkle of a smile. "Like you could tire me out."

"Oh? Big words coming from the guy that couldn't get a solid hit on me yet."

"You're right." He clenched his fists, pulling them up as lightning coiled around his body, gently hopping on the balls of his feet as he eyed her stance. "Let me try again."

Katsumi laughed, her hands crackling with explosions, "Your funeral!"

The world blurred as Izuku let one bounce finish, and turned his landing into a crouch before he kicked off the ground. He felt his eyes shift, dilating to take in more light, registering only what was directly in front of him as his whole body accelerated at a pace that would've caused him to blackout from the G-force of the acceleration if his body wasn't doing its best at keeping the blood from pooling at his legs, his veins contracting and shifting to keep pressure consistent.

For a frozen moment of time, a mere millisecond of reality that stretched like rubber, he was in front of Katsumi, arm pulled back and ready for the hit, before the blonde set off an explosion that stung his eyes and shot her up and over him, her muscles already contracting to throw herself with the blast of force.

_Attack from the back. _

He still followed through with the motions of his punch, palm opening and slamming against the ground, the impact shaking the ring; the momentum carryed him forwards, into a flip and twisting motion, his legs barely getting in position before his gauntlet hissed and the pneumatic lance shot out, shooting him out of the spot as Katsumi bombarded his previous location with an explosion before she even hit the ground from her leap.

The world spun as he tried to control the spin of a move he hadn't even attempted before, barely getting his feet under him thanks to his training with Miruko. His steel-tipped boot digging into the concrete of the ground as he shot forward like a bullet, chasing after Katsumi, not giving her the chance to readjust and get her balance on the ground.

Katsumi attempted to deter him from his follow-through, her right hand shooting forward as her revolver gauntlet chambered another round, aimed straight at him.

_Not this time. _

Izuku leaned forward, his hand coming down to plant on the ground, the metal of his gauntlets scraping against concrete, his momentum flipping him over as he yanked his body down and to the side, and giving him the right position to kick up and back at Katsumi. He saw her curse, the motion letting him dodge the blast of light and force that had been aimed his way, the shockwave of the blast ruffling his pants and nothing more as he cleared the top of the flash.

"Idiot!" Katsumi called out as another round clicked into place, aiming at his form once more. "How are you going to dodge in the air!?"

_Need to time this right- _

He waited, ears tuned for the resounding click of her gauntlet's mechanism. As the faint sound of the firing pin clicking into place rang out, his eyes barely registering that the barrel was starting to glow orange from deep within, the forewarning as an explosion started its journey out like an unstoppable force of nature.

Too bad he was one too.

His body maneuvered in the way now hardcoded into his very neurons, spinning faster and faster as the wave of heat hit him. He had just mere fractions of a second before-

He readjusted his angle and spun his leg down just as the actual core of the explosion washed over him. The heel of his boot slammed down like a rocket, breaking the sound barrier between him and Katsumi, the shockwave dispersing the flames around his body as if he had cut through it, his whole body spinning through the fire rapidly approaching the source as the wind pressure generated protected him from the flames and force.

Katsumi didn't have time to react as his form became visible, bursting out of the fire and smoke like it was a stage curtain. His hand lashed out and gripped around her gauntlet, clamping around her like a handcuff before he pulled, the force catching her off guard and pulling her off her feet and into his movements.

In an instant he shifted, sliding his form, still airborne, into her personal bubble as the spin dragged her along the outside of her arm. His free hand came up along hers, until his other arm was around her neck, pulling her in a chokehold, his bicep pushing against her trachea and arteries in just the right amount to get her lightheaded, his grip on her gauntlet pulling her up and off balance.

"Gotcha," he breathed out, the mechanical voice so close to her ear, and even though the voice-alteration, husky and breathless.

For a moment, time slowed, and looking in, it almost seemed like two lovers in a dance, a waltz of force and flame.

Katsumi attempted to gulp, feeling the press of her throat against Izuku's strong arm against her neck. As the feeling registered, she felt warmth rush up to her face and then down her spine immediately flow down her body and straight into her core, her skin starting to feel softer as she felt the blood flow spike.

She needed to get out of his lock before things got worse-

Part of her _really _wanted things to get worse.

Her free hand rushed up against his face, and she let out the biggest explosion she could muster- with the amount of sweat she was producing due to the position only aiding her in the effort.

Izuku didn't even budge as the explosion engulfed his helmet, her eyes glimpsing the eyes of his helmet glowing through the smoke like stars at her peripheral.

He had tanked it.

She would've been annoyed if it wasn't so damn hot.

"Tap out," he hissed, the grip around her throat tightening slightly "It's bad for your brain to get choked unconscious- but I won't hold back."

"Not yet- asshole~" she groaned out, the rotator cuff on her right arm clicking into the maximum output.

Izuku's eyes widened as she let loose the explosion, the recoil of the blast turned the slender bombshell into a rocket against his chest, hitting the two of them like a truck and causing both to slam back and off-balance, twisting as they hit the ground. The mass of flesh and heavy gauntlets rolled before stopping with Izuku on top of Katsumi, and he slammed down, one fist into the concrete next to her neck, the other placed against her stomach, pressing down to keep her pinned as a warning.

He was breathing heavily, and shook his head before coming to his senses. A shift and his hands snapped out along her arms, before gripping her hands, keeping them outstretched, and sending the gauntlet she wore to slide off her slender, muscled wrists to clatter on the floor. As he shifted, he adjusted his legs, sliding his knees up and across her thighs, pinning her in place. As the two sat there, breathing heavily, Izuku's eyes gleamed, an idea brought on by the flush of _his Kacchan's _face. Acting quickly, he slid forwards, face coming down as if to kiss and nuzzle against her neck, the eyes of his mask looking half-lidded and focused.

And while she was distracted, eyes wide, and chest heaving at the intimacy of the motion, he shifted up, shoving her captured wrist to above her head, the jaws of life shooting out and pinning the two limbs in place as the tips gauged their way into the concrete, locking her hands to the ground. Izuku chuckled at seeing her eyes widen, a mix of rage and… _want, _reflecting out at him. A flex of his muscles led to releasing the gauntlet and freeing his hand as Katsumi shook off the explosions' last effects, eyes narrowing as she looked up.

"Sorry," he smiled, leaning back and resting his naked hand next to her with a smirk he knew his mask was emulating, "guess you lost this time."

Katsumi scowled, trying to pull her arms free, only to fail as the gauntlet anchored in the concrete didn't even budge. The scowl turned into a worried blush as she took in the scene.

Izuku, one arm resting next to her head, straddling her lap, free to do whatever he wanted with her.

It wasn't helping that she could feel something hard rub against her as he gave long heavy breathes of exertion, still trying to catch the breath she had knocked out of him with that last move.

She couldn't stop the whimper from leaving her lips. "Izuku…"

He gave a full-body shudder at the sound. His helmet quickly began folding away and revealing his flustered face.

It was _unfair _how she could be so damn sexy and cute at the same time.

The thought was echoed by the woman under him.

"**A̼͆r̭͛ĕ͉ y̲̾o̗̽ù̻ tw̰͑o̭̎ ͔̔done?** " Mecha-might almost groaned. "**T̡͆ḥ̂ĕ̳ clas͙̓ś͕ ẻͅnd̖̃é̥d̬͠ an͕͑ h̙͠ỏ̦u̓͜r̡̒ ago.̪̎"**

The moment was broken, both lovers turning to face the automaton.

"**Al̗̒s͓̒o, g͓ood ̪͂j͉͗o̰͌b ̨̓F͎̓aţ̾hȅ͈r̻͘,̫ ĝ̦u̦e͚͊s̼͆s I ̛͎doṇ̒'ť̥ ̠̊n̖̽e̙͞è̲ḑ͗ ť͢o̊͜ ̡̒b̬͒e͍͋at ḧ͇er ̰̅up ̞m͍̅y̢̚self**"

"Shut up you overgrown scrap-pile!"

* * *

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) go to Ao3 (archive of our own to watch her _explode _( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	67. Congratulations, you're alive

**A/N:** I am, unlike most would believe, Alive.

been busy with college, then with the corona BS, and recently started doing drawing comms that take up most of my time- and honestly, the muse for writing just wasn't with me. and didn't want to hammer out a sub-par chapter due to it

Now, I got some inklings of the muse back in me, so hey

I'm back!

* * *

"I love youhhh~" Katsumi mumbled against Izuku's back, nuzzling against the nape of his neck and hugging tighter against his neck as he gave the woman a piggyback ride back to the dorms with a soft smile on his face.

_ "̫I ͕do͖n't know͙ wh̤a̱t'͓s ͢m̱o̡r͕e ͓i͟mp̪res̟si̱v̡e̤," _ Nana mumbled, breaking the moment created by the setting sun and the calm spring breeze. _ "T̤h̞aț yo̝u͓ ͙m̳anaged to ̼k̰n̟o̗c̘k̳ he̼ṛ out̨-̙ ̟o̤r̭ ͚i̙t̬ ̩t̳o̖ok͚ l̼o̬n͎g̫e̘ŗ ̪t͔o g̢et̥ e̩v̮e̺ṟyțh̰i̟n̘g o̡ut o̜f h͈e̡r ̰t̘han t̠o w͓a͟sh ̠her a͟nd̡ ̲ḍre̼s͈s̱ her̨ c͖o̼mbined." ͚ _

_ For once can you not? _

_"N̦ah.̖" _

"Midoriya?"

His body tensed before his brain caught up with real-life once more, recognizing the voice. "Saiko?"

The tall woman looked back, not sweaty but with clear signs of tiredness in her gait. He figured she must've been working out- now that he thought about it she wasn't in the group with All Might in the earlier class either.

_ How did I not- _

_ "̠You͉ ̝we̩re͢ z͢oned̺ ou͜t̻ ͕th͖i̥nk͜in̦g abo̢ṳt̢ h̨ow t̼o impr͔ov͎e͢ yo̭uͅr fi͉g̫htin̤g̝ ͓p͎rowe̘ss̢, r̺em͖e̳m͎be͕r?" _

_ Rig- _

His eyes focused on a certain clump of lilac hair, the owner looking back at him with fear in her eyes.

"_ You." _

Saiko flinched, getting between the two on instinct, seemingly only remembering the events of the sports festival at that moment. "Midoriya, don-"

He blinked, then sighed, the sudden tension leaving his shoulders as he relaxed, as much as he could with still carrying the dazed Katsumi on his back. "Sorry, that came out rougher than I intended-"

Both girls seemed to relax at the switch of tone, Hitsuki still refusing to leave the shadow of Saiko even with the tension dropping between them.

"Good to see that you are taking steps to better yourself," he mumbled, looking away and readjusting Katsumi on his back, the woman mumbling softly against his neck. "I'm sure it feels better than to look down on others too."

His tone was ruder than Saiko had expected but not as aggressive as she feared. Funny, she never imagined Izuku to be the type to hold a grudge.

Then again, it was foolish of her to think he would be perfect enough to let _ that _go.

_ Note to self: never get on his bad side. _

* * *

Ochako yawned, stretching slowly from her spot in Izuku's bed. Mei was already awake and tinkering with something on his desk as their boyfriend slumbered in bed. His head was being petted by an affectionate Momo, with Mina playing with her phone on his chest, and Katsumi sprawled on his legs, still deep in her own sleep.

It was weird how easily Mina had slotted in, not creating any friction between anyone like what she feared would happen eventually. But no, all they had was this cozy feeling every morning as the group woke up slowly before some lovey-dovey stuff.

They were all dorks, weren't they?

Izuku hummed and slowly woke up, hands rubbing Mina's head with a soft grunt. "Stop shufflin'" he mumbled, head falling back down like the act of waking up didn't really stick.

Mina giggled, leaning into the contact with a sigh and laying her phone down, finding the minute affection more entertaining than the game that had her attention just moments ago.

Ochako chuckled under her breath, slowly slipping out of bed and _ really _stretching, from the tips of her toes to her hands, leaning down and stretching her back. It had become second nature to her after she saw how vital being flexible was in martial arts, Gunhead drilling it to her how important it was for not only for more precise attacks, but also for keeping her joints strong against pins.

She blushed at the memory of how useful increased flexibility had helped her in that hospital room.

"Mmn~ Izuku…"

The three coherent women in the room flinched, suddenly locking their gazes on the mumbling- and moving Katsumi, groggily crawling next to Izuku and leaning on his left shoulder, the space Ochako had vacated, messing with his curls.

So far the softest moment the two had shared between them.

As if clockwork Momo's hand smothered Mina's mouth, muffling the coo the pink-skinned woman started to let out mere seconds before, protecting the still-sleepy duo as they fell back asleep in each other's arms.

A soft click echoed, three eyes darting to Mei holding her phone, clearly taking a picture of the adorable sight with a wide smile on her lips

Momo mouthed 'send me a copy'.

Ochako rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips.

Weekend mornings were the best.

* * *

Shoko's eyes didn't leave the two at the breakfast table, almost glaring at Katsumi being more… touchy was probably the right word.

Or romantic if her mother had a word to say about it- maybe Fuyumi too.

She blinked, zoning out looking at the ceiling. Those two really did like romance books, wondering if they thought about stuff like that consistently.

Maybe about her and Izuku? She could imagine the two imagining romantic scenarios with him and her-

She was taken out of her trance by Tomoyo's hand on her other shoulder shaking her "Shoko- Shoko you are cooking Kaminari"

She blinked, noticing the heat on her cheeks, and her left side close to igniting. "Oh- sorry, zoned out."

Doi wheezed. "The weather is hot enough, I don't need this on top of it all-"

Shoko looked down slightly ashamed with another soft apology.

Doi chuckled awkwardly, patting her on the shoulder. "It's alright."

* * *

"Hakagure."

The invisible woman flinched at the sound of Cementoss uttering her name, her focus suddenly locking back to the class rather than Katsumi making googly eyes at the backside of Izuku's head.

"Can you read the next passage? If you are done zoning out that is."

She mumbled an apology, and read out the passage.

Worrying about the sudden change in demeanor in a classmate was probably not the best idea this close to the midterms.

* * *

Kyoka's eyebrows furrowed as she heard another dreamy sigh coming from her left. She had heard it every so often during classes for the day but couldn't place the voice. As far as she could remember, nobody in their class sounded like...

A soft giggle shook Kyoka's belief as she hazarded a glance over at Katsumi. She had been quiet most of the morning, but now she was… smiling? The normally brooding blonde looked bizarrely happy, the happiest she had seen her since Green gave her that hug at-

_ Wait. _

She noticed Izuku picking up a pencil that Katsumi had "dropped" and returning it to the woman next to him in the desk circle that they had constructed. The reading discussion for the article that Midnight had assigned wasn't _that _engaging so_…_

Another giggle followed by Izuku's nervous chuckling and- was she _ swooning _ over him?!

Kyoka looked around at the various expressions of the other women in the circle, ranging from bemused to jealous to adoring.

_ What the hell is going o- Oh. _

_ Ohhhh… _

She could feel herself blushing, and was trying hard to not burst out laughing.

_ He fucked the angry out of her. _

* * *

"Mina." Izuku almost grumbled, looking down at the woman in his lap. "You know I can see you messing with your phone right?"

The woman whistled, acting like she didn't hear him, earning an amused huff from Momo, and a tired sigh from Tomoyo.

"If you don't focus, the tutoring won't help, Ashido."

The pinkette sighed, putting her phone on the desk, "I knowwww- but I think I get it now so it's boring me."

Katsumi cackled from her spot next to Eiko, the red-head looking up from her own studies at the sudden intrusion. "You think you got it? Pinkie you need to be sure."

"I am!" Mina protested, almost bouncing on her spot- much to the worry of Izuku. "I'll show you Baka-gou! Ask me a question!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"NEVER!"

Izuku chuckled as the study session slowly turned to chaos, everyone laughing and the tension built in the room alleviating.

Maybe it was what they all needed to have instead of one last cram session, the exams were the next day after all.

Time really seemed to fly in UA.

_ "P̺r̩o͎b͎a̳bly͈ th̻e̱ schedule, ̭it ̞alwa̧y͜s f̱ee̻l̯s̫ ̞lik͇e ̡t͇i̤m̱e̟ s͢pe̜e̹d̤s u̜p ̬w͍h̞e̜n̤ y̥ou stic̱k̢ to̧ oneͅ.̟"̨ _

_ Probably? _

"Hahahaha- we are so fucked," Doi mumbled, sounding dead inside towards the end.

"Speak for yourself, sparkplug," Jirou mumbled, spinning a pencil on her jack. "Actually don't, I think you got this- more than usual at least, but that's not a high bar to pass is it?"

"Why do you have to be so mean yet encouraging!" Doi barked back like a partner in a comedic duo. "I don't know how to feel now!"

* * *

_"Th̜e̮ ̮an͚s͍wer is̤ ̤D̨" ̠_

_ Shut up. _ Izuku huffed internally, trying not to break the silence of the examination. _ That's cheating. _

_ "͟F̨i̩ne̩,̳"̘ _ Nana huffed back, the sounds of shuffling papers echoing in Izuku's mind before a resounding 'plap' like a folder being dropped on a table followed it. _ "F͍o͜r̜g̬ot ho̠w b͜o͟ṛing̖ t̺e̮șts͖ ̤w̝er̹e.ͅ"̫ ̰ _

_ I'm trying to get a good grade here, please stop. _

_"̰No͇pe͓~̬ ̢g͎o̘nna ̠ḅo̫t̝her y̦ou̮ ̬t͔il̨l ̬the ̼t͜ime̺ is ̦ove̗r̗!" _

_ God. _

_ Fucking. _

_ Damn you. _

He felt her snort and chortle, before feeling her scheming.

He hated that sensation

_ "O̩k͟ fi̖n͓e̠, I̝'l̼l̫ ͍l̤ea͖v͇e you a̗l̺onȩ ̮buț ͙on ̜on̰e co̢n͟t̨ition~̬" _

He gulped.

* * *

Mina sighed, her shoulders drooping after the exam was over and the class was allowed to go to the dorms, the physical tests were gonna be held the next week, so thankfully she didn't need to deal with that stress on top of everything else.

But it still stung that she probably flunked the written tests again.

At least she thought she did. Everything felt uncharacteristically easy- like they always did when she took a test she didn't have a good handle on the topic.

_ Stupid brain, why couldn't you just be smart? _

Part of her hated herself for shrugging off the last day of cramming now, after it was too late to change anything.

"Mina? You alright?"

Izuku's voice took her out of her trance, the larger man looking down on her with worry in his eyes and shoulders- at least that was a worry off her back, he wasn't mad at her for yesterday.

"Mhm- maybe?" she mumbled, trying to fake a smile- only to be interrupted by a hug from the larger man.

After the initial shock subsided she hugged back slowly, giggling lightly. "Did I really look that down?"

"Doesn't look right when you're not at least a little hyper, yeah," he chuckled, pulling her off her feet much to her amusement and excitement, her heart beating harder in her chest.

"Mmmn- sorry exam woes," she mumbled, pushing her face against his chest more. "It'll pass in a bit."

"You know-" Momo's voice made her flinch, had she always been there? "We could go through the questions- I doubt you did _ that _ bad."

Ochako winced mumbling an 'I guess that might help?' half-heartedly.

Mina blinked. Just how many people had she missed in her funk?

"That's a good idea," Izuku mumbled, still holding her tight, "if anything it'll help us study better for the finals."

"_ But thats 2 months away," _Mina groaned, punching his chest lightly, "don't drag me into your nerd-out!"

"Too late~" Izuku shot back, literally carrying her to his room with a mock cackle that made Mina's heart soar.

_ Maybe nerd-out's aren't that bad… _

* * *

"Wait what…?" Mina blinked slowly, looking at the tally of the questions- she wasn't sure if those were actually the answers she had filled in but-

From the looks of it she had done better than she ever had before, that wasn't saying much coming from her but the margin was _ huge. _

Izuku blinked next to her, then smiled slightly. "Better than you expected?"

She crashed into him, arms wrapped around his neck with a happy laugh, her body and mouth moving faster than she could think. "Can I kiss you?"

She started blushing before he could answer, the shock slowly dawning on her. But before she could pull away he laughed, rubbing his nose against hers gently. "Didn't think you'd be the type to ask."

_ Is that a ye- _

He leaned in and answered her unasked question, giving her a soft, chaste kiss on her lips with a smile. "Glad to see you hyper again."

Mina felt like there was steam coming out of her very being, cheeks feeling warmer than ever.

She didn't think his lips would've been that soft- but now that was the only thing she could think of.

"I think you broke her, Deku," Ochako mumbled, poking Mina's elbow from the side.

As if that turned her on, Mina pounced forward, kissing him back with ferocity and laughter with more than enough instances of thanking him for all the tutoring.

Izuku chuckled, hugging her back tightly, his hands roaming her back mumbling 'its fine' and 'no problem' when she let him get a breath in.

Momo chuckled next to the two, Katsumi huffing with what almost amounted to pride.

She finally pulled back, laughed, and nuzzled his chest like an affectionate cat. "Thank you, you glorious, tall dork!"

Izuku panted, petting her head with a wheeze of laughter. "I told you it's fine- besides..."

He scratched his cheek, unable to find the words "...we should probably worry more about the physicals, right?"

Mina froze in his arms and deflated against him. "Oh right- still got more examsss…"

Everyone chuckled lightly.

* * *

The common room was tense as everyone had their breakfast.

As it was expected, it was the day of the physical examinations- and in true UA fashion, they were not given any information on it.

_ "Re̙me͈m̡be̥r̤ ̠yo̻uŗ ̭pro̟m͎is̬e̢ after͟ the e̻x͚a̢m͕įn͈a͕t̖io̹n͜s͓~" _Nana cooed in his head, the sensation pulling the tension right out of his shoulders and making him relax.

_ I still can't believe you got me to agree to that _

_ "Neit̙hͅe̢r ̞c͉an ̧I̟~ ̬i̟t'̤s g͉on̠na ̟be ̡f̨u̩n͙!" _

He groaned internally, shaking his head. The rest of his class perking up at the action.

"Everything alright Midoriya?" Tomoyo questioned, chopping with her left arm.

"Yeah- just worried over nothing, we all are," He smiled, getting up from his seat and stretching out his arms. "I'm sure we all can handle the test, we are worried over nothing."

Eiko jumped up with a holler. "He's right! Worrying about it is not manly at all!"

Hana sighed. "Well, yeah we are women so-"

Eiko laughed pulling her friend to a noogie, causing the woman to laugh along.

"Yeah, well I'm sure there is nothing they can toss at us that we can't overcome!"

* * *

Izuku gulped, looking at the buff blonde and the pale blue-haired beauty next to her.

"1A! Your test will be combat training!" Mira laughed, raising her fists in preparation, getting into a fighting stance.

"Come at us!"

* * *

**A/N: **sorry for the shorter chapter, just trying to get back to the swing of things


	68. To Fight the Unbeatable Foe

"Do we _have _to?"

Mira almost burst out laughing at the soft spark of hope in the voice of her fellow member of the 'Big Three', as they had been labeled. Tamai was never the type to enjoy sparring against actual opponents, after all.

Made her cute in a weird way.

Nozomi made a sound that got even the blonde to shiver at its sheer unnaturalness, something close to a human chuckle, but too high pitched to _not _unsettle her. "Of course not, but it is part of their exam, and if there is no one to fight, they would get failing grades."

The president's piercing gaze stared right into Tamai's soul. "You wouldn't want to cause your underclassmen to fail now, would you?"

Tamai made a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a whine, her already drooped shoulders drooping more. "No… that wouldn't be right."

Nejire smiled, patting her friend on the shoulder and pulling her into a hug from behind, giggling at Tamia's usual antics. "C'moooon, don't you wanna show off your quirk? I bet they'll love it."

"It's not as cool as you guys' though- it's gross," Tamai mumbled, eyes drilling a hole in her shoes.

Mira laughed as the two started to pass banter between each other, their personalities forming the most hilarious little ying-yang in her eyes. Then her eyes locked onto the president's and the laughter died in her throat.

The glint in president Nozomi's eyes was the only thing that got her serious. Even with all the training on reading body language she had learned from Nighteye, she could never tell what the miniature president was thinking.

That always put her on edge.

She smiled through the unease, glaring at the mouse-bear-dog thing with no fear evident in her eyes. At least, she hoped none leaked out. "We're more than willing to help with the mid-term examinations. When are we holding the test? And what are the criteria?"

Nozomi did her approximation of a smile, baring her fangs to the three in her office. "They've been… too successful. We all know hero work isn't all butterflies and successful missions- even if we wish they were."

"So…" Nejire muttered, a hyperactive smile beaming through, "we don't need to hold back?"

"All out. Make them feel defeat," Aizawa added, finally talking for the first time since she got to her place on the glass wall next to Nozomi. "Don't worry, that won't affect their scores, how well they fight against unbeatable odds will."

"So no reason to hold back at all?" Nejire whispered, getting even more excited at the prospect.

_Oh boy — _Mira hummed internally— _they really must hate these kids. Or love them too much. _

"None," Aizawa assured, a sick smile forming on her face. "It's at eight AM this coming Monday, so be ready."

All three nodded, filing out of the president's office, quickly devolving into banter as they followed the University corridors back to their class.

"But do you really think your quirk is that gross, Amajiki?" Nejire prodded, poking the 22-year-old in the shoulder playfully. "I think it's pretty cool—"

"And didn't _he _say he thought it was very cool too?"

The shyer, dark-haired woman blushed slightly at the compliment on behalf of the one person that had said it with so much enthusiasm that it had stuck in her head.

"W-why are you talking about hi-him so much recently anyway?" she managed to mumble out under her breath. But that was still enough for both Mira and Nejire to hear.

The latter started to blush lightly at the accusation. "N-no reason, just stuck up about not getting to see Togata and him strike the 'power' pose"

Mira laughed boisterously at the mental image.

Now only if they got All Might to join in, that might be a perfect joke photograph.

_Maybe I could print it out on wood and cut some holes where the faces would be… hmmmmm. _

* * *

Katsumi did a double-take upon seeing the worry reflected on Izuku's visor, the animated eyes expanded to the limits of the screen his helmet had formed.

_Why did Mei give it that much emotional range- _

"1A!" the buff blonde with the short hair roared, making Izuku tense and Katsumi's eyes snap back to the source. "Your Physical Midterms start now! We, the Big Three, will teach you what **Power** means!"

The blue-haired woman next to her cheered excitedly, hopping from one foot to the next before activating what seemed to be her quirk and starting to float off the ground, yellow spirals shooting out of her calves.

_...that's probably as versatile as my… _

Katsumi's hands sparked.

_My kind of challenge. _

"The test is simple, three of us against all twenty of you, knock one of us out, or make one surrender- all of you get A's" the blonde chuckled re-adjusting her visor "battle goes till the last one of you is taken out of commission."

Katsumi blinked, that-

That sounded too easy.

She shot a look back at Izuku, who didn't even look back at her, eyes locked onto the blonde in the front.

Oh god, they were fucked.

* * *

_Fuck. Fuck. _**_Fuck_**_. _

_"Do̙wn,̜ bo̭y,̻" _Nana grumbled, and Izuku felt her presence in his brain trying to calm his overacting fear center, even as his quirk began to hype up his production of adrenaline in preparation of the coming fight. "_Y̺o͔u faced o̝f̦f ̲ag͇a͙iͅn̦st ͚an̠ ̗ac̦tual̗ ̱s̼e̘r̼i̫al ̘k͇ill̨ẹr b̹ut̙ ̳yo͖u ̘a̻re̡ t̘his w̳ound͟ ṵp ̹agai̟n̯s̱t͙ he̟r?_"

_You know why I am. _

_"And̥ I̘ k̜now ͖y̹ou a̢re ̨bͅetter̲ th̝an ṭhat ̝n͟o̤w̨.̜ ̼C̝alͅm̼ ͙d͢o̦wn-̜ th̼ink thi̜s̺ ̗th̻ro̞ug̺h." _

Izuku took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Calming down as Mira explained the last of the ground rules. Nana was right, panicking wouldn't help at all at the moment.

He needed to plan, to focus on the situation and break it down.

_"Y̥o͈u k̤no̙w ̤he͜r ̫quir̺k-̭ anḓ yo͉u͢ h̖ave b̮ee̠n̦ a̮na̪ly̦zin̠g̗ tho̭se͔ fo̺r 18̡ ̼yea͚rs no̝w̼ ha̗ven̞'t y̞o͔u?̡" _Nana's words buzzed through his mind, clearly helping lead his rampant thoughts to matter at hand.

_Their quirks are Permeation, Wave Motion, and Manifest. _

"_No̲w ̢tel̟l ̬me ̫how͚ ̙you can b͎e̡a̼t t̼hem, foc̫usi̖ng̖ ͅo̬n ̩Mira͢ ̫first͉."_

_...She can't attack while intangible- she needs a moment where she is tangible for solid hits- _

He let One for All flood his body, pooling in his limbs, coating him like a second skin, readying for the explosive action that he was going to need.

_She shouldn't have a way to see from inside other objects- so when she falls through the ground she'll be blind for a split second. _

His eyes slowly trailed towards Ochako, attracting the attention of Katsumi. "Ambush strategy- We'll take Lemillion, Kacchan, can you keep Helix busy?"

Katsuki seemed to fill with energy the moment he opened his mouth. "If you are talking about spirals, yeah. Try to do whatever you are gonna do before I kick her ass though."

With just like that, she blasted away, shooting towards a Nejire who was already giggling with anticipation.

_Scary. _

He knew he was out of time, but started shouting orders even as he tensed, eyes locking on the smiling blonde. "Right- Uravity, Earphone Ja-"

His orders were cut short when with a smile on her face, he saw Mira slip into the floor, his brain screeching to a halt and going on high alert as he felt his brain trip into combat focus.

Analysis was his thing. But he didn't have enough battle data on Mira to predict who she would go for, he had never seen her take on individual opponents, never groups.

_No reference point, so we have to focus on the logic. _He had only a second or two at best before she struck, and he needed to figure out her target before it was too late.

_"Who would you go for" _came Nana's calm question, ringing through his mind even as the world slowed, his body began to enter Flow.

_Safest bet… anyone with long-range attacks _

His mind raced through the class roster, automatically filtering by quirks and skillsets.

_Who would she see as the most threatening in long rage… _

Distantly he heard a voice, echoing through the haze of flow even as he felt the surge of realization. "Izuku, watch o-"

_Mo- _

A strand of blonde hair poked through the ground, his prepared brain immediately dropping into the deepest levels of flow, time dilating as the ominous shadow of Lemillion rose out of the concrete, moving so fast that even with his mind running as fast as it could, the actual details of Mira were too fast and fleeting for him to register.

Some background part of his brain registered that he likely would have been panicking if it weren't for that very same flow state.

"Hello brain!" Mira cheered the words taking on a strange reverb as Izuku processed them, even as he was already tensing and moving, his eyes locked on how her arm was pulled back and ready.

_Shit. _

There was no blocking Lemillion, no defensive wall she couldn't burst throug- the gauntlets wouldn't even slo-

Impact area. She wouldn't expect that.

He was gambling on his endurance with this.

**_"LOCAL ENVIRON"_**

* * *

Tamai winced from her position facing the wall as the first real punch was thrown, the harsh sound of-

She blinked. Her ears twitching at the unexpected sound.

That sounded less like a punch to the stomach- meat against bone, and more like-

_Did Mira start with Kirishima? _

* * *

"Heyo there!~" Nejire called out, doing a pirouette in the air as Katsumi shot towards her, hands leaving a trail of smoke and ash behind her as she juked through the air after the blue haired woman.

_I'm the only one in class that can actually fly- which means that I'm the one who needs to take her out. _

"Aw, no banter? That's the fun part though~"

Katsumi felt her skin crawl at the nonchalant gaze of her opponent, and bit back a nervous gulp. Hell, even against Stain she hadn't felt this type of aura. _I need to at least hold her off long enough for the rest of the class to face the other two… _

She managed to shake off the growing fear before Nejire fired off her first salvo, a beam from her hand that spiraled and expanded in an almost unpredictable way, barely clipping the pants of her hero suit after she fired off another explosion to change her trajectory, a series of smaller pops sounding as she threw herself into an erratic flight path to get closer.

"Oho!" Nejire _laughed. _With a flash of light, the blue haired beauty was closing the distance in less than a second, appearing in front of Katsumi, with her hand raised and the gleam of her quirk cupped in her palm. "You are _fast, _this is gonna be fun!"

_Oh shit. _

Bakugou forced her face into a smirk, her hands flying and already crackling, the explosive force brought around to meet the yellow blast with a massive bang.

"I'm not going down without a fight!"

* * *

Izuku skidded across the training ground, his armored boots scoring a path in the concrete as he did so, arms to his side, locked in position, brain still trying to process what just happened.

He let go of the breath that his body had gripped onto when he forced all of his torso muscles to clench with the power of One for All, the focused lightning on his chest dissipating, as he looked at Lemillion shaking her arm, a cute and playful grin across her features.

"Ow," both uttered at the same time.

"I thought you needed more time for the lightning!" she cheered as the rest of his class looked flabbergasted at the suddenly-appearing student in the middle of their ranks.

"I thought you punched harder!" he hollered back, trying to not let her notice how much that hurt- breathing was gonna be a pain for a few days, he could taste it.

"Haha! I knew I liked you!" Mira called out, phasing back into the ground.

"Creati!" Izuku called out, looking behind himself- maintaining eye contact was impossible with Mira anyway. "You trained with her! What's her M.O.?"

That's when a blast sent Katsumi falling on top of Momo, cutting her off before she could respond, both girls sent sprawling across the ground with yelps of surprise.

"No cheating~!" Nejire sing-songed from her spot in the air, aiming both hands to the ground. "Let me thin the herd a bit!"

"...Shit," Izuku muttered, his head hanging down a bit as he braced-

He heard some rustling as Mira popped out from behind him, ready for another punch "HELLO!"

"OH GODDAM-" his body reacted before his curse was finished, one of his legs unloading all of its stored energy and sending him 'safely' barreling at his top speed away from the incoming attack and towards-

"You?-" Nejire smiled as he shot towards her, re-aiming her charging blast towards him. "Didn't realize you wanted to get a closer look!"

Just before the attack hit, Hana's tape wrapped around his leg and the anchor pulled him down in a sharp arc just far enough to avoid the blast. The spiral wave shot out just above where he had been pulled down to, almost glancing his helmet

_Close one- _he sighed even as he hit the ground and rolled to his feet, arms coming back up in his stance. He was trying to get back to his senses, to get back into flow so he could react. He was getting pin-balled too hard to get his beari-

"Hello!"

He blinked as he saw Nejire was suddenly hovering next to him, one hand already charged with overflowing amounts of power as she reached out and placed it just above his chest.

"...please be gentle?"

Nejire giggled, stopping her flight just behind him. "No~"

Even with the time that little interaction gave him, he didn't have quite enough time to cross his gauntlets in front of himself in a block. With a sound like a tank firing, the attack hit him straight on and sent him cannonballing back towards Hana, knocking her and a large portion of the class behind her over just from the wake of his passage.

_"W̤ǫw ͚she h͔it̟ș lik̰e a ̞__**t̝r̳uck.**_"

_I noticed. _Izuku huffed, trying to get off from the pile of his classmates without crushing them any more. At least he had managed to get his gauntlets tucked in and away from them when he slammed into-

He noticed Nejire was suddenly once more in front of him, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her finger about to poke his chest.

Her _glowing _finger.

"Boop."

He barely managed to tense up as he got launched once more, almost crashing into an unsteady Tsu before she dodged out of the way, and instead slamming at full velocity into the wall next to Tamaki, getting embedded in it.

The black-haired beauty made a shocked sound and scuttled away like a scared cat at his sudden appearance.

_At least- she isn't- _he gulped. _Nope. Not even gonna finish that sentence. Please ignore me Sun-Eater, I've got enough going on. _

_"Wo̢w͍,̰" _Nana mumbled, her voice sounding like it was just getting out of her own daze- he must've hit his head pretty hard for her to be knocked around enough too. "_T͚he͖y͜ a̼rȩ re̪al̙ly ͈k̙ick͈i̟n̢g̬ ͜yo̢ur gu̥y͖s̞' ͟a͙ss͜e̠s̖." _

Izuku looked around, seeing the growing pile of wincing, groaning classmates. Mira had really gone to town on them while Nejire had knocked him out of the fight for a few seconds.

Currently, Mira was struggling a bit with taking a tag team of Eiko and Saiko, the former being too hard to knock out with a single punch, and the latter providing enough support with-

_Huh- Aizawa's capture tape- that's a useful support item for her… _

"Deku! You alright?" Ochako called out, rushing to his side- _Good, she isn't knocked out yet- we may have a chance… _

"Yeah- but I don't know how long I can ignore the damage I sustained-" he grunted, pulling one of his gauntlets out of the crater with a grunt. "But if you are still okay- we might have a shot"

"You mean me touching Lemillion?" she questioned, gripping his freed arm and tugging at it, helping him out of his indent on the wall. "I… might have a plan about that."

Izuku blinked, looking down on his girlfriend. "God, I love you."

* * *

_Something's off… _

Saiko blinked, her eyes trying to focus on what her mind had detected, Mira's moves had changed, that punch heading towards Eiko didn't have the same force behin-

"Kirishima, **DODGE!**"

She knew that was too late to warn her, Eiko had hardened her whole body to tank the hit, she didn't have the agility to dodge the incoming attack.

Mira laughed as her fist phased down to her wrist into Eiko's stomach, shocking the red-head "Don't worry! It'll sting for only a second!"

"Wha-"

Before Eiko could finish her sentence she was shot back like a cannonball, clipping Rikku along the way and collapsing against one of the walls.

Mira flexed with a laugh, bellowing 'POWER' to the high heavens with a million-watt smile.

Saiko's world froze. They were dealing with _actual_ monsters here.

"Missed a spot," Izuku called out, attracting both Saiko's and Mira's attention, the eyes on his vizor sharp and resolute. "Don't think it's gonna be as easy as the last few times."

Mira smiled, an iota of pride in her eyes looking at her underclassmen. "As you say then, Deku!"

_A moment. That's what will decide this. _She changed her grip on the tape. _From what I know, Izuku's not the type to attack without a play. _

_He's trying to open a gap. I'll assist. _

_I just need the right timing. _

* * *

Mira was relentless, the only way he was keeping up with the attack was thanks to the hardwired instincts Total Command had bestowed to him, along with the upped speed 5% One for All gave him.

Even with all the unpredictable speed Mira had, Izuku's dodging reflexes were faster, and the blonde couldn't get a solid hit in.

And neither could Izuku, this was a losing battle, after all, Mira needed just one slip up for her to finish it all, and at the rate he was tiring out that moment was getting closer.

Mira hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

_Just one moment. A single slip up. _

_C'mon- give me an opening… _

Capture tape shot out from the side, wrapping around Lemillion's visor for one second, with enough tug at it for one moment to take her off balance, interrupting her attack.

_Now. _

His hand shot out, grabbing Mira's fist and pulling it to the side, enough to get her to stumble to the side and take a step to balance herself before she turned her fist intangible, removing what little grip he had gotten.

That's when a dual whip cracked, clipping Mira's shin.

For a few seconds, everything around them stopped, Ochako panting while gripping onto the handle of her gauntlet tightly, the two cords jutting out of it against the floor, separated by the magnetic nubs every five centimeters.

Mei's test invention, she had mused about it to him the previous day. The concept was simple if Ochako could affect everything that was in contact with the spot she touched with all five fingers-

Then anything that 'closed the circuit' between the two halves of the whip would activate her quirk.

_That means… _

Mira looked lost for a second, confused about what had just happened. "Was that the gap you were- woah!"

Izuku almost broke out in a cheer as Lemillon started to float away from the ground, her gravity negated, and without the ground to slip into- she was almost disarmed. They only needed to knock her ou-

"Hey gu- ooh! Togata I didn't know you could fly!"

_Oh god no. _

Mira struck a pose with her hands on her hips, chest puffed out and stomach clenched, something akin to what All Might would do "My powers get stronger every day!"

"Haha! Uravity is that your quirk? Mind showing it off to me after this?"

"S-sure- does that mean the exam is over?" Ochako whimpered, taking a step back.

"Just about~" Nejire sung, both arms raising, targeting both Ochako and Izuku, Saiko just behind him in the line of fire. Her dainty hands crackling with yellow aura

"Buh-bye."

* * *

"Ow," Saiko mumbled, groaning in pain. Then again her body hurt more after Aizawa's training sessions. "You okay down there?"

Izuku mumbled something, feeling ticklish against the bottom of her thighs. Would've probably felt better if his helmet was down. _Oh well. _

She didn't really wanna think too hard after that impact, but somehow Izuku had managed to flip the two of them, landing under her ass, head somewhere too close to her crotch yet too far to make the position fun.

"I'll stand up in a second- just give me a second to shake off the concussion" she muttered, leaning back a bit.

"Alright. Midterm Physical is over," Aizawa barked out from her spot, previously snoozing in one of the corners of the room, "what's the result?"

"Utter defeat," Tomoyo groaned from her spot, embedded face-first onto a wall.

"Untrue," Mira called out, standing on the ceiling with a smile, "they got one killer hit in. Tamai can you help me down?"

"U-uh sure- ate some takoyaki for lunch- I should have enough to-" her arm grew red, elongating and slowly transforming into a long and strong tentacle, reaching high up into the ceiling of training ground gamma, pulling her friend down gently.

"Interesting," Aizawa mumbled, her eyes remaining on Saiko for a moment longer, her smirk hidden by her own scarf. "This test is over, everyone dismissed. Go to Recovery Girl if you have to."

The class groaned.


End file.
